


Resilience of the Soul

by Velf



Series: Courage Cycle [3]
Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Gen, Love, Quests, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-31 05:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 89,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20109787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velf/pseuds/Velf
Summary: The saga continues. With her mating to Haku rapidly approaching, Chihiro has a number of new problems to face. But these are nothing compared to the plans a new foe has for her. Sequel to Enchantment of the Heart.





	1. Chapter 1

** _New Beginnings_ **

Kenshin walked through the halls of his desert fortress. In a few days his intricate and fragile plan would be implemented. It would possibly set in motion the wheels of fate and have them turn and labour against him. For the Human's sake he hoped that this could be avoided. He hoped that she was not the one of prophecy and when things started to deteriorate she would retreat, perhaps living her life quietly in exile? It was a vain hope and he knew it. To achieve his goals he would have to eliminate the instrument of fate. Not kill her of course, that was not necessary. No, he needed to break her resolve before she ever decided to face him, even before she knew what her purpose was. He could not afford to take chances but Kenshin had learned a long time ago that even enemies were of some use alive. Besides, he had seen enough bloodshed to last 10,000 life times.

His footsteps echoed down the dark featureless halls. He liked this fortress; he had lived on the plain for some time but found his proximity to so many spirits more and more irksome. So he decided to live permanently within his bonded realm. He had built the fortress during yet another war. His 7th or 8th perhaps. The Gods had once again demanded he take sides, he had chosen badly and paid dearly. But what was one more prison to him? One more endless task of attrition? He always escaped eventually, time and pressure was all it took and he always had time on his side.

He had rebuilt the fortress when Yubaba had found him. He had been shocked at the destruction a thousand years and the desert sand had worked on his home. It had not even been a ruin, just a few walls left to represent rooms and little else. Many sand dunes had passed this way during his sleep. His repelling spell had long since worn off and the sand-mountains had invaded and etched their secrets upon the stone.

Now his home was bigger and better more suited to what he was; the desert wind, arid, scorching and merciless. But he had taken corporal form many times over his long life; the experiences in this body eased the burden of eternity. Basically, he bored easily; after all he had practically seen and done everything that had ever interested him. The crushing apathy was lessened in this form. He had once spent 300 years in his buzzard form, simply travelling the spirit world wherever the warm wind blew. He had been to the colder areas of course but disliked being cold and wet; it irritated him.

But in all his long years he had discovered a simple truth; nothing ever changed. Societies rose and fell, and spirits lived and died. True immortality was only ever bestowed on those strong enough to grasp it. Few spirits reached the 70,000 mark; their homes were destroyed; they died in wars or they chose to die when they felt the time was right. Kenshin was nearly 100,000 years old; he was a true immortal and he knew that nothing ever changed.

Now, however, through Yubaba seeking him out for her own puerile reasons, he could have the power to change the entire spirit world for the better. The old ones would no doubt object but he cared little. They could not interfere; their time was over. Their governorship of the spirit world had failed as far as he was concerned. It was unfortunate that the girl was caught up in this and he had some sympathy for the dragon too. Kohaku was an arrogant fool but he was harmless, far too fond of his human to be any real trouble. Kenshin had to admit they were equal in power but he had many more years of experience on his side.

He shook his head slightly; he had to focus on the task in hand and the wonders he could achieve. He smiled to himself as he stepped into the harsh sunlight. Yubaba could have a dozen bathhouses if she so wished. He would have worlds at his feet and he would finally bring order to chaos.

It was early; Chihiro knew it as soon as she opened her eyes. No sun even attempted to pierce the drapes; only the low glow of the embers in the grate illuminated the room. She thought about getting up; she had slept badly for the last few nights and was tired but seemed unable to find rest. She knew what was robbing her of her sleep. Her parents would probably arrive any day now. Contact between them was still one-way; Haku was strong but not that strong. He had however sent them a method of contacting Chihiro in the event of an emergency. The effort he expended resulted in a 4-day headache for him, which did nothing to improve his mood. Were all males so infantile when it came to illness? Chihiro could not be sure.

One thing was almost certain, Haku and her farther would meet soon. On midwinter's day she would be taking her vows to be a dragon's mate and surrendering her soul. Her Daddy would love that part of the arrangement. She stuck her foot out of the bed and shuddered. With midwinter under a week away the temperature was getting low. Of course they still had the odd warm day, this was the spirit world after all and the weather was nothing if unpredictable, however, Chihiro secretly hoped to have snow on the day of her mating.

"You would not be thinking of getting up would you?" asked a sleepy voice. Chihiro turned over and gazed into the slightly bloodshot, but none the less exquisite emerald depth of her intended's eyes. "You've tossed and turned all night; it would be a shame for you to leave now and actually allow me some undisturbed sleep," drawled the dragon sarcastically.

Chihiro glared at him balefully, but could not help a smile tugging at her lips. She was still amazed on occasion that she could kiss and touch him whenever she wished. She could hardly believe she was going to be the mate of someone with such pale, perfect skin, such satiny black hair which shone green in the firelight and a body that made her want to melt every time she was close to him. Such a person should be way out of her league, and yet she was sure he loved her utterly and completely. She had as of yet to figure out why, but she was not about to question her good fortune.

Still, he could be annoying at times, like right at that moment. She was annoyed at herself for being unable to keep a straight face. She really was in no mood for his cutting sense of humour.

"If you'd rather have me move back into my old room, Haku, just say so," she grumbled, shifting her body against his as if to remind him of exactly what he would be missing.

"You know you can't move back," he mumbled.

"Why?" she enquired sharply. His arm slipped around her and pulled her closer. His embrace was comforting and Chihiro had to force herself to resist the urge to nuzzle into his neck. She even managed to ignore it when he started stroking her hair.

"You can't go back because I won't let you. With the exception of these last few nights I actually can't sleep properly unless you are in my bed. I'm pathetic, I know, but there it is." He kissed her temple gently. "Sleep deprivation is classed as torture little one, you don't want to torture me do you?"

"Then stop teasing me, it's not my fault I can't sleep," she murmured. She felt rather than heard a chuckle bubble up from his chest.

"I do apologise, I should not bait you when you're feeling vulnerable."

She pulled a face at him and then gave into her feminine side by resting her face in the hollow of his neck. He held her more tightly and she sighed, finally relaxing in the shelter of his arms.

"I know you are worried about the mating and your parents but it will all turn out well. Everything is arranged, the midwinter festival was going to happen anyway, and our mating will just be added to the proceedings. All you have to do is show up and say the right things in the right places." He chuckled again and kissed the top of her head. "As a rule just say "yes" to everything you are asked." Chihiro smiled against his throat; he smelled so good.

"And what about Dad?" she mumbled. "He will be none too pleased to see you when he gets here. If he saw that picture Meeka sent he is bound to come and then he will be out for your blood." She snuggled closer, slipping her legs between his so she could warm the soles of her feet on his calves. He gave a low, slightly peeved growl in protest at her chilly feet, but he did not move away from her. "You corrupted his only child and he will be looking for someone to dump his guilt on for thinking I was mad for all those years." Haku merely shrugged.

"I'll be on my best behaviour; if he insults me I'll only turn him into a llama."

"Haku," Chihiro muttered against him in a warning tone. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"It will be difficult for me; he has caused you to feel a significant amount of pain with his constant pig headedness. I have urged you to maintain links with your parents hoping they would come around. I had no idea your father would be this stubborn. Now, through his own blindness, his daughter is giving herself to someone he does not know. I pity him but I also think he is an idiot." Chihiro had never heard Haku speak so of her father and was suddenly more worried about their meeting than she was about her mating. Haku sensed her deepening anxiety.

"Don't worry Chihiro, I'll be civil even if he does not extend the same courtesy to me." That made her feel a little better. "Stop fretting," he whispered, "and get some rest; it's far too early to be having deep and meaningful conversations."

Chihiro burrowed under the covers and wiggled around until she was facing away from him but still had his reassuring presence at her back.

"Sleep little one," he whispered, his voice sounding coaxing, warm and seductive. Her eyelids felt immediately heavier and her breathing slowed. "That's it," he mumbled into her hair. "Just forget everything and drift away."

"Haku?" she whispered.

"Yes," he replied in the same beguiling tone.

"You're using magic on me again, aren't you?"

"Only a small amount, you need the rest."

"I'll be angry with you in the morning." She yawned, her leaden eyelids sliding shut.

"It will be worth it," he breathed, his voice barely audible to her ears. Warm sleepiness pulled her downwards calling her away from him but one question refused to be forgotten in her almost slumbering mind.

"Haku?"

"Mmm…?"

"Why a Llama?"

"I thought it would make a nice change from pigs. Also, being stubborn creatures they would suit your father and I could keep him long enough for him to produce enough wool for Zeniba to make him a sweater as a souvenir of his time with cloven hooves. Also I thought…" Chihiro wanted to hear the rest but sleep claimed her.

Haku stroked her hair slowly, wanting to make sure she was sleeping deeply before resting himself.

"Everything will be alright Chihiro I promise," he assured her softly. "Within a week all this will be over. You will be my mate and nothing will ever be able to come between us." He knew in his heart that was not true; she would leave him one day. With his help that would not be for around a hundred years or so and he had decided to stop worrying about it. When the time came, it came. Maybe when it did it would be his time to leave this life also. He cleared his head of such morbid thoughts and was soon sleeping soundly.


	2. Daddy’s Girl

The border had been open for about a week when Haku finally got the warning that an intruder had crossed over. He quickly located Chihiro and they both flew to the now dry ferry crossing. Chihiro was slowly getting better at whizzing through the air while seemingly unsupported by anything except Haku's hand. She still could not look below her without a huge attack of vertigo, but she was learning to deal with it. The short flight from the top of the bathhouse hardly fazed her at all.

They landed gracefully before her astonished parents. Her mother recovered from her shock quickly however and hugged her daughter tightly.

"Oh, I was so pleased when I got your letter," Yuuko cried and stepped back from Chihiro and clutched Haku's hand. "I knew as soon as I saw you together that something like this was on the horizon. Just let me say how pleased I am for both of you." Chihiro beamed at her mother, her eyes misted a little with tears. Yuuko genuinely did seem happy for them. With only one way contact between Chihiro and her parents, Chihiro had had no idea how her parents had reacted to the news of her betrothal. She had suspected her mother would understand, but her father…?

Chihiro glanced over at Akio Ogino; he had lost weight, but his hair was greying. He looked older to her. His dark eyes were burning with disproval at his wife's actions, but his attention seemed to be on Haku. Chihiro realised he was sizing up her intended, trying to take his measure before he spoke to him. Chihiro prised Haku away from her mother and walked towards her father while clutching at the dragon's hand possessively. Akio blinked at the young woman before him; she was almost a completely different person from the thin, ill looking girl he had last seen in a hospital.

His daughter stood straight and proud. Her dark eyes were exactly like her mother's and they sparkled with defiance as she regarded him coolly. Her figure had certainly become more feminine and it was accentuated by the loose, light green tunic-like dress she wore. Her hair was longer too; the brown tresses fell well past the middle of her back. She was breathtaking. Suddenly Akio felt a huge stab of guilt along with a fresh wave of paternal protectiveness. No wonder the thing by her side wanted to possess her.

"Father," said Chihiro crisply. "May I present Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi; one of the most powerful spirits in this part of the spirit world. He is the person I intend to take as my mate next week."

The green eyed man-thing bowed to him shallowly. Akio did not return the bow. Chihiro could almost smell the testosterone in the air as the dragon and the human eyeballed each other.

"You take a great liberty with my family by taking our daughter as yours without asking our permission first," bit out Akio. Haku merely raised an eyebrow at her father's hostile tone, but Chihiro saw his shoulders stiffen also.

"Chihiro is quite capable of making her own decisions. Besides you were unwilling to believe her so I could not ask you. If you knew your daughter a little better perhaps you would have the sense to trust her judgement."

That hit home. Chihiro saw her father's eyes widen as if he had been slapped in the face. She looked helplessly at her mother. Yuuko just shrugged, quite happy to let the two males lock horns and vie for supremacy.

"I know my daughter a little better than you think, spirit," said her farther quietly. "Which leads me to believe that you must have manipulated her in some way, to get her to agree to such a quick engagement and now a sham of a marriage."

"It's not a marriage," corrected Haku acidly. "It is a bonding of souls. Chihiro will giver her soul to me and she will have mine. We will belong to each other in a way that you cannot possibly comprehend."

Chihiro's mother edged around the pair and stood next to her daughter.

"I think it's going well, don't you?" she chuckled.

"I don't find it funny," said Chihiro, while nibbling viciously at her nails.

"Oh, let them get it out of their systems. They won't be happy until they have had a good fight."

"I would not worry, except… Dad is not the fittest person and, well, Haku is a dragon… when he gets angry…"

"Don't fret my dear, turn on the water-works and you will have them eating out of your hands." Chihiro decided to resort to blackmail only if necessary. She would rather just shout at them.

"If you cared for my daughter at all," hissed Akio, "you would not impose such a thing on her."

"I love your daughter," snapped Haku. "And I'm not the one who left her to rot in a hospital!"

Chihiro's mother winced and Chihiro knew things were going to go too far if she did not intervene.

"BE QUIET!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Both of you!"

To her surprise they both turned to look at her. "You are like two children fighting over a toy!" she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. "For all our sakes, grow up! Dad you are 51 and Haku you are over 17,000 years old. Why don't you both start acting your age? I love you both and it's tearing me apart seeing you argue like this." Chihiro glared at her stunned father. "Dad, I love you but you have been a mule headed bastard!"

"Chihiro!" her mother exclaimed. Chihiro ignored her. "Yes, you did put me in a hospital and no, I have not quite forgiven you yet; but I'm willing to try. All you seem to want to do is insult the very person who rescued me from that place. I love him Dad and I want to be with him forever, please trust me enough to believe that I know my own heart." She turned to Haku.

"And you promised to be civil; I really thought you had more manners." Haku blinked but she continued. "And you are being far too over-protective. This is my father; he is hardly going to hurt me deliberately. Back off before you forget yourself." She glared at both of them. "Now, I believe Meeka has prepared lunch. Mum and I are going for a bite to eat and a cup of tea. You two are welcome to join us, or you can kill each other. At the moment I don't care which you choose." She spun around on her heel and grabbed her mother's arm. Yuuko Ogino trailed alongside her daughter, impressed with her handling of the situation. Haku stared after Chihiro. Akio shuffled his feet and finally spoke.

"I'm not normally so rude upon first meeting someone but…" He trailed off when the dragon looked at him. Akio had to admit the green eyed creature exuded hidden power and he was more than a little intimidated. However, after his daughter's stern words he felt the need to build bridges and quickly. He had not lost his misgivings however and he wanted to make sure the dragon knew it. "You are immortal, a creature of another world, how can this possibly work?"

"But it does work, we are a shining example that human and spirit can live together in harmony," replied the dragon solemnly. Akio Ogino looked after his rapidly disappearing daughter and then turned to the dragon, who towered above him.

"I don't like you and I don't trust you, but for my daughter's sake I will tolerate you."

"Fine," snapped Haku, gritting his teeth. "And I will continue to think of you as a pitiful fool." Akio nodded curtly and the human and dragon started to follow the women. Haku was wondering if Chihiro would mind terribly if he removed a few of her father's fingers and toes.

"_Just a slight maiming,"_ he thought. _"Then maybe he would be more respectful towards me."_ He knew however, if he even attempted such a thing Chihiro would remove a particular part of his anatomy that was very dear to him indeed. Still, he was not required to like Akio at all. Thus he was resolved, but he could not resist one last dig at the infuriating human.

"How you ever managed to spawn such a daughter is beyond me. Looking at you both one would think your blood was not even the same temperature."

"You're right," Akio grunted. "She is stunning and you are not fit to walk in her shadow. You should be honoured she is lowering herself to take you as hers. She could have done so much better."

"I know," muttered Haku, the wind taken from his sails somewhat.

The human and the dragon entered the bath house having reached an impasse. They were unaware they had risen in each others estimation considerably.

At lunch Chihiro ignored Haku and her father until her sisters arrived. Rin's sharp tongued wit and Linca's constant chatter seemed to ease the atmosphere somewhat. Indeed Akio was completely charmed by Linca, something the sprite shamelessly played up to.

"Tell me," she said huskily to Akio, placing a hand on his forearm. "Where were men like you when I was in the human world?" Chihiro nearly choked on her tea and strangled a laugh. Her mother seemed to be having trouble hiding a smile too. "Now I see where Chihiro gets her good looks," said Linca leaning closer to the furiously blushing Akio. Haku seemed amazed at the exchange; his eyes were wide and his eyebrows were raised as high as they would go. Chihiro had to admit the sprite was being ridiculously improper. She was from a part of the spirit world that was connected to a very different part of the human world. Customs and the boundaries of the acceptable were different, but even if she was in the Ukraine, Chihiro was sure Linca would be pushing her luck. To Chihiro's amusement her blushing father gave as good as he got.

"Chihiro did not tell me she had such a beautiful adoptive sister, I shall have to visit more often from now on and make an effort to get to know you better," Akio said as calmly as he could while meeting Linca's disconcertingly white eyes. Linca laughed girlishly and Chihiro took that moment to give her a friendly kick in the shin under the table. Linca yelped and glared at her, but she took the warning and toned down her behaviour. The conversation at the table lulled until Yuuko piped up.

"So what is exactly involved in this mating ceremony?" Chihiro and Haku shared a worried look, they had been hoping to avoid the subject; Chihiro did not know how to explain the proceedings in a way that would not sound like she was a touch insane for agreeing to participate in the ceremony.

Now Rin was not known for her deportment or diplomacy and so she surprised Chihiro when she offered her parents an explanation.

"It is a very beautiful and ancient ceremony; full of symbolism." Chihiro's parents nodded, both could respect such a thing. Rin continued, "The female betrothed is taken away by her family two nights before to be cleansed physically and mentally."

"I don't see why she has to go through this and Haku does not," mumbled Linca. "It's sexist." Rin gave her sister a flat look and did her best to ignore her.

"As I was saying, Sen will be cleansed; it also gives her an opportunity to spend time with her family before she commits herself to Haku."

Rin seemed wistful as she spoke. Chihiro was wondering if she was feeling emotions connected to when she was mated. Chihiro was certain that the name Rin had blurted out a few months ago had been her mate's. A mate whom she had had a child with; a mate who had treated her badly enough to make her run to Yubaba. Rin smiled and her soft brown eyes looked sad. "Traditionally this is the point that Sen must consider the suitability of her mate and it's her last chance to call a halt to things without dishonouring her family."

"What rubbish!" grumbled Linca.

"We as her family then ensure she arrives at the ceremony safely and in good health. To be mated when you are ill is considered to be a bad omen."

Chihiro was amazed that her parents were hanging on Rin's every word.

"The ceremony starts with Chihiro walking from one side of the temple to the other, symbolically leaving her family to start her new life. She will stop half way and then Haku will ask her if she is free and willing to come to him. She will hopefully answer "yes" and complete her walk across the temple to stand at his side." Chihiro saw her mother swallow slowly; she guessed she could count on her getting emotional at the ceremony. "They will pledge themselves to each other before the Gods. Then the Gods will demand a _symbolic_ sacrifice." Rin placed great emphasis on the word symbolic so Chihiro's parents had no chance to misunderstand. "Time was that there was an actual sacrifice demanded, a beast of some sort normally." Chihiro exhaled a breath she did not know she had been holding. Wisely Rin had left out the part about the sacrifice occasionally being a human child in times past. "In our days what is usually required are a few drops of blood from both parties. The Gods will accept the sacrifice and then Haku will have to confess."

"Confess?" Akio sounded alarmed.

"Yes," replied Rin. "He will have to tell her the worst thing he has ever done. We won't be able to hear of course, it will be done within a silence spell." Linca snorted.

"Again I find this very offensive; it implies that just because he is male he would rack up more misdemeanours than she would."

Rin, Haku and Chihiro all glared at the diminutive spirit. She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I just don't think it's fair, if you are all happy to go along with these antiquated customs then so be it."

"But it's all symbolic now, Linca," chimed in Yuuko, she then frowned and turned to Rin. "Isn't it?"

"Yes," Rin replied. "But if Chihiro does not like what she hears she may wish, and is within her rights, to walk away right then, but in doing so she will damage not only Haku's reputation but her family's also. In the past your clan or family were your livelihood and protection. To damage them was to damage yourself." Akio nodded at Rin's words.

"It was the same in the human past, marriages were about honour and money not love, though this seems more complex than an ordinary marriage."

"It is, and it is supposed to be difficult so that no one who was not a hundred percent committed would go through with it," said Rin sagely. Yuuko nodded.

"So, when she has heard the worst thing Haku has done and still wants to have him," Yuuko asked giving the dragon an encouraging smile, "then what happens?"

"Chihiro will touch her sacrifice wound to his and they will become mates. No one will ever be able to part them, they will always be aware of each other; their souls will be in each others keeping. They will be as much a part of each other as fibres are part of woven cloth; if you pick them apart there is no fabric." Rin gave Chihiro a rueful smile. "It will be one of the most beautiful and terrifying times of your life, sister, but I'm confident all will go well for you."

Chihiro smiled back, Rin's eyes looked so sad she wished she could take her pain from her. Haku was very still beside her; she felt anxiety through the Tac'Tal and knew he was worrying about his confession. He would have to be honest or the deities present would denounce him and not only would the ceremony not be able to be completed but he would be punished also. Chihiro slipped her hand into his beneath the table and squeezed reassuringly. He looked down at her and though he smiled she could see his worry.

"_It can't be that bad surely?"_ she thought. _"He may have lived a long time and probably has done plenty of things he is not proud of but I don't think it will be anything I'll have trouble forgiving."_

She loved him so much she felt she would almost be able to forgive anything; well almost anything, she may have a few problems with rape, torture and cold blooded murder. But Haku was not capable of any of those things; it was probably something he was forced to do while he was Yubaba's apprentice that caused him to worry so. He returned her grip and they turned their attention back to the table. The conversation had moved on but Chihiro could tell her father was far from happy about the situation; however he seemed willing to accept it. Linca had finally done something useful and guided her parents onto the subject of what Chihiro was like as a child.

"She was such a tomboy," her mother exclaimed. "Always playing in mud and water; digging up worms and climbing trees. As soon as she could walk I could not turn my back on her." Yuuko chuckled to herself; Akio laughed too.

"She was a real terror, always wanting to know about everything. Why is the sky blue, daddy? Why is the grass green? What holds the moon up? Why do birds sing?" It was exhausting!" He smiled at his daughter affectionately. "Then there was the time your curiosity got you into real trouble."

"How so?" asked Linca.

"She fell into a river; she was only four years old and could not swim. I think she knocked ten years off my life expectancy. One minute she was sitting on the bank, the next she was gone." Chihiro hid a smirk and let her father talk. "Anyway she did not come back up, the river was fast and deep and I could not see her anywhere. I screamed her name and ran up and down the bank hoping to catch a glimpse of her so I could pull her out. Finally, I found her sitting in the shallows around the next bend in the river."

"Why did you fall in?" asked Rin, who had not heard the story.

"I had new shoes on and one fell in; I wanted it back," replied Chihiro. "I did not mean to fall in; I made a grab for it and overbalanced." Akio laughed.

"Anyway, when I find her, before I can say anything, she puts her head on one side and says "Hello, Daddy" as if nothing had happened." The table's occupants laughed and Chihiro flushed. "I try to pick her up but she wriggles away from me, points to the water and tells me I have to thank the…" Akio trailed off, both he and Yuuko stared open mouthed at Haku. An enigmatic smile touched the dragon's lips and his jade eyes shone.

"Thank the what?" asked Rin, frowning.

"…The dragon boy," whispered Akio. Rin's frown deepened.

"Was that you Haku?" she asked.

"It might have been," he mumbled into his tea cup. There was perfect silence at the table. Haku watched Akio closely waiting for his reaction. Finally Akio stood slowly and bowed to the dragon.

"Forgive my earlier words; we owe you thanks and are greatly in your debt," he said quietly. Haku inclined his head toward Akio and motioned for him to sit back down. Chihiro could almost feel the dragon's mind start to race.

"I assure you, Akio, any debts owed are repaid ten fold by the fact that your daughter has consented to be my mate," he intoned and then a sly look crept over his features. Chihiro fancied she could hear a trap somewhere click shut. "That is if we have your blessing?" A grin split Linca's face and Rin looked thoroughly un-amused. Akio did not even seem to notice he had been manipulated.

"You have not only my blessing but my trust," he said sincerely.

"Then there are no debt between us," said Haku equally sincerely.

Linca decided this would be an ideal time to give Chihiro's parents a tour of the bathhouse. They all stood and she and Rin lead the way. Chihiro and Haku hung back and Haku slipped an arm around Chihiro and kissed her on the temple.

"You are far too clever for your own good sometimes," she mumbled into his ear.

"I know," he whispered. "But that's part of my appeal."

"Arrogant lizard," Chihiro chuckled and before he could distract her further she took his arm and pulled him in the direction her parents had gone.


	3. Dragons and Details

Chihiro could tell that her father was impressed by the immense size of the bathhouse. There were no customers at that time of the day and Haku invited her parents to practically roam where they pleased on the main floors.

"We also have private bathing rooms, if you would like to sample our services; free of charge, of course," said Rin quietly to Chihiro's parents. Yuuko's eyes lit up and Akio mumbled something gruffly about perhaps taking her up on her very kind offer.

Chihiro smiled at her blushing father and grinning mother. It was good to see them getting along so well. It was hard to remember a time at home when they were so easy in each other's company. A warm breath blew gently against the shell of her ear, sending a shudder up her spine.

"They are still in love," said Haku in a low tone, clearly taken aback by his discovery.

"It surprises you?" asked Chihiro, trying not to lean against him as he shifted behind her. How was it possible to be so aware of someone all the time? She suspected that after her mating the situation would get worse, not better; she was clearly quite insane and would die young from mental fatigue.

"It does surprise me," Haku continued, apparently unaware of his human's state of mind. "They have very different personalities. I don't want to insult your parents Chihiro, but I would expect such people to drift apart with time."

"Opposites attract, Haku," mumbled Chihiro still having trouble following the conversation. The heat from his body behind her seemed to very easily permeate her clothes, even though he was not touching her. It made her head spin a little and that beguiling scent of his seemed to insist on filling her nostrils, musky and deliciously spicy. It was just not fair! He was only standing there and she was melting into a Chihiro sized pool at his feet. Evidently, she had left her dignity far behind her when she fell in love.

She had always prided herself on letting her head rule her heart, but now she had turned into a silly simpering idiot who thought candlelight and full moons were "romantic" and sang and sighed to herself constantly. She was disgusted and ashamed of herself but what could she do? She was in love and it had changed her, she may as well accept it, ignore the downsides and embrace the good sides, like Haku… she found herself sighing again and winced. With a monumental effort, she tried to concentrate on Haku's words rather than his body. If only his voice was less… like satin and steel…

"Chihiro, are you even listening to me?" He sounded amused.

"Oh yes," she struggled, trying to remember what he had been saying and gave up. Instead, she reached for an excuse. "I was just thinking that my parents are not such an odd couple, just look at us."

"Yes, but we are different from them," he said thoughtfully. "More err…physical." Chihiro snorted, trying to contain a giggle. "What I mean," he said slightly testily, "is that we are always touching each other, holding hands and the like. I've not seen them so much as brush against each other." Chihiro could still not keep her face straight.

"Well, there are reasons for that, Haku; our relationship is quite new. The "ripping off clothes" phase does not last forever you know."

"It doesn't?" He was practically purring in her ear, his lips almost, but not quite, brushing her sensitive lobe.

It suddenly struck Chihiro that he was very aware of the effect he was having on her and was enjoying teasing her. She kept forgetting that his sense of smell could tell him such things as well as the Tac'Tal. Oh he was going to be a nightmare when they were mated! Well, two could play his game.

"Oh, there is a good reason why it doesn't last," she said, making her voice low and husky. "I mean, I would be worn out if we continued the way we are. Sleeping together every night has a few drawbacks it seems. I'm always just a few inches from you." She reached behind her and found his well-muscled thighs; she gently rested her palms on them as if leaning against him for support.

"Easily in reach for you to touch me," her hands moved higher, a little more towards his hips. "Which, as you pointed out, happens frequently. One thing leads to another and before you know it…" She rotated her wrists inwards so her fingers stroked his inner thighs.

A gasp hissed through his teeth. Chihiro smiled; he could do nothing, her parents and her sisters were still close by. It looked like they were simply standing close to each other and talking. The smile on her face broadened and she dug her fingers into his legs making him growl a warning.

"So you see, if we continued as we are, by the time I got to around forty I would be worn out which would be a shame. So normally things cool off after a few years." She gave one last caress of his legs and then slowly removed her hands. She folded her arms and waited; waited to see if he dare touch her in the state he was now in. She could feel the burning heat of his emotions through the Tac'Tal. True he had managed to arouse her by simply breathing on her ear, she had been a little more direct but the effect was the same. Linca would be proud of her.

She put her head on one side and watched her parents following Rin around. At that moment they were marvelling at the token system. Rin was quite clearly pleased to have such attentive guests and was explaining the system's inner workings at length.

Haku seemed to be pulling himself back together; she heard him swallow behind her and he coughed as if to clear his throat. Chihiro almost chuckled at the dragon's discomfort. Finally, she turned to him but did not meet his burning eyes; instead, she focused over the top of his head and feigned disinterest.

"Maybe we should start to slow things down now, just in case. I could start sleeping in pyjamas from now on so you are less tempted." She ran her index finger along her lower lip as if pondering the situation, still staring into the middle distance. "Or perhaps separate beds? Many couples sleep apart or even in separate rooms."

"Chihiro," he growled. She did look at him then, his eyes glittered and his shoulders seemed very tense. "Enough," he almost snarled, his sharp teeth peeking at her.

"You started it," she replied lightly. "I merely played along."

"You don't play fair," he grumbled, but the hard edge had left his voice.

"Then I hope you have leant your lesson," she admonished sternly.

"What, not to tease you?" he said grudgingly.

"No, I know you can't help teasing me; that was not it. You really should pay more attention, Haku."

"Then what?" he asked.

"That your mate-to-be fights dirty!" she chuckled evilly.

As frustrated and annoyed as he was, Haku could not help a small smile touching his lips.

"We will finish this later," he growled.

Chihiro tossed her head and turned on her heel, seeming, for all the world, completely unconcerned. She started to walk towards her parents but could not help one last parting shot.

"Oh, this is only the beginning my love." Haku chuckled and trailed after her, willing for the moment to admit defeat. But he could not help feeling cheated; if only she had moved her hands a little higher!

Linca sighed at them when they passed her. Who did they think they were fooling? Brazenly flirting with each other in front of Chihiro's parents, it was indecent! Linca smiled and whispered to herself.

"I'm just jealous. I need a male before I turn into a prude like Rin." She sighed again and fixed the happy smile back on her face. But she could not escape the loneliness that clutched at her heart as she watched her sister and the dragon.

"Not so much flirting but foreplay" she smirked. "Oh, I miss that; more to the point I miss him." She shrugged her shoulders. A male; she just needed a male, if only for one night. Then she could forget again, at least for a while.

Chihiro's parents did indeed take baths that night, much to Chihiro's amusement. Of course, she had an early night herself that night and a late morning the next morning, though she got little actual sleep. Over the next few days, Chihiro was more and more involved with the preparations for her mating and she hardly saw her parents or her sisters.

The kitchen staff had to know exactly what to cook for the celebration banquet. The gardeners wanted her approval of the flowers they were going to harvest for the big day. The musicians wanted to ensure the music they would play would be suitable to the human ear and most annoyingly of all, the Lady kept materialising at the most awkward times.

Even when Chihiro was shaving her legs in her bathroom she got no privacy. The Lady popped into existence, sitting on the toilet and making Chihiro shriek and cut herself. The Goddess evidently found this all very entertaining, despite the human's protests that she kept scaring her half to death. The deity had already insisted that she conduct the ceremony and seemed disposed to chat at length about her role no matter how busy Chihiro was.

"I swear, she is more excited than I am over this," Chihiro complained to Haku one evening as she prepared for bed.

"She has a right to be, I suppose," Haku sighed. "A mating between human and spirit has not happened for centuries."

"Well, I can handle her I suppose," mumbled Chihiro, throwing herself down on the bed and irritably throwing her socks across the room. "What really annoys me is all the trivial details that people come running to me with." Haku smiled warmly.

"It's a big celebration; it's endearing that people want to make an effort for us."

"Yes, but it's getting ridiculous." Chihiro slipped under the covers and wiggled her feet and rubbed her arms to avoid shivering. It was bitterly cold outside. Haku slid in beside her and rested on his elbow so he could still see her as she grumbled to him.

"Yesterday the gardener asked me which shade of white rose I would prefer; ivory or cream? He showed me the two different bushes and I could not tell the difference between them; I just pointed to the one nearest to me. Then the chef asked me what spice combination I wanted in my soup. I did not know we were having soup, let alone what spices I wanted in it." Haku chuckled softly and moved closer to her.

"Are you getting a little stressed by all this, little one?"

"Yes," she pouted and turned and slid an arm around his middle. "I just want to turn up, get through the ceremony and then disappear to your river for a few days. No doubt it is feeling very left out of the proceedings; we will both need to lavish some attention on it."

Haku smiled. It was very considerate of her to think of how the rest of him was feeling; she had so much on her mind at the moment and yet she was worrying about him. He leant forward and kissed her softly.

"We need to be seen to do the right thing, Chihiro," he whispered into her hair. "I know all the pomp and ceremony annoys you but this is a big celebration. People will be talking about this for years. This is less about us and more of a public gathering. With the old ones themselves officiating, it is going to be the biggest gathering of spirits this area has seen in a millennia. Do you actually know how many are coming to the ceremony alone?"

"I've blanked it out," murmured Chihiro against his neck.

"There will be over three thousand souls at the ceremony; twice that at the festivities at the bathhouse after. It's a good thing we are having our mating at mid-winter when the bathhouse is closed. If it was open, the logistics of catering for all those extra people on top of our regular custom would be impossible. Be glad it is just roses you have to worry about." Chihiro's eyes flashed with irritation.

"Are you mocking me?" she asked, her tone deceptively light. "Because if you are, you can deal with all the petty stuff, as well as everything else."

"I'm not mocking you," he soothed and pulled closer so her head rested under his chin and he could feel her sweet, warm breath on his skin. "I know you care nothing for such things, but unfortunately people will think that shades of white will be important to you because you are female. They don't know you as I and your family do. Be as patient as you can with them; they just want to help."

Chihiro sighed and snuggled closer to him, appreciating the extra heat of his body. He must have sensed she was still feeling cold because another blanket popped into being on the bed and he carefully tucked it around her so no draughts found their way under the covers.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much," she whispered and kissed his neck.

Silence stretched between them and Chihiro was just dozing off when Haku spoke.

"Did you pack your bag for going away with your family tomorrow?"

"Not yet," she sighed, "I'll have all morning."

"You won't actually," he said softly "but it does not matter; I'm sure Rin will see you have clothing."

Chihiro frowned but was too close to sleep to care about what he meant. Her brow cleared and she drifted off. Haku stroked her hair, watching her slip into slumber was somehow fascinating to him.

"Goodnight, little one," he breathed. "Sleep well. You will need your strength to deal with what is to come." As Haku fell asleep he was not sure if he meant the rude awakening she would get tomorrow or the mysterious prophecy that hung over their heads.


	4. The Cleansing Part 1

Chihiro woke with a start; she was face down on the floor, her cheek resting on the polished boards. She shivered and thought sleepily that she must have fallen from bed. She was forced to reassess her assumption, however, when a cool pair of hands grabbed hers and efficiently began to bind them. Panic gripped her and she tried to wriggle away from her kidnapper.

"Be still!" hissed Rin's voice. "It'll come off soon enough and I'm using silk rope; it won't even rub your skin." Chihiro stilled and let her sister finish with her hands.

"What it going on?" Chihiro demanded as Rin helped her to her feet.

She noticed it was early morning, a grey pre-dawn light was forcing its way through the drapes and her heart leapt. Through a gap in the drapes she could see small, delicate snowflakes billowing and swirling playfully in a light breeze. It was only light snow, perhaps not even enough to cover the ground, but it was promising. It almost improved her testy, angry mood; almost. Rin was grinning from ear to ear, her hands on her hips and feet braced apart. She looked quite happy argue if it was necessary, or perhaps just knock Chihiro out cold.

"This is your cleansing," she announced, her eyes twinkling with mischief. She then turned and started opening draws, rummaging around them with a will. "Haku said you did not pack yet so I'm just going to grab what I can for you." Chihiro could hear Haku and Linca's voices in the next room, but she was unable to discern what was being said. She glanced around the room; bewildered and confused. Her eyes fell on a large, two handed, log splitter axe. It was innocently propped up against the bedroom screen as if it was part of the furniture.

"Err… Rin I still don't know what's going on but I'm fairly certain that an axe was not here last night."

Rin straightened up and chuckled. It occurred to Chihiro that her sister was rather strangely dressed. She wore a white shift dress that was very becoming for her statuesque figure and complexion.

"This is your cleansing," she repeated. "It has to be a little rough on you because you have been living with your betrothed for two months. That is a lot of sin to get rid of!" She laughed and then dumped a hastily packed bag by her side. "Now, hold still; Zeniba gave me this so we did not have to waste time dressing you up."

Rin unfolded a square of black cloth and blew on it. Black dust billowed off it and settled on Chihiro. Seconds later, her night attire had changed to a black shift dress in the same style as Rin's.

"That is so no one confuses us; you are the unclean one and we are performing our moral duty."

Chihiro sighed. She should have guessed her sisters had been planning something; they had been as thick as thieves all week.

Rin picked up the axe and swung it experimentally. She then brought it over her head and it came crashing down onto Haku's bed, almost splitting the wooden bed frame in two.

"Rin!" Chihiro exclaimed, hardly crediting what she saw.

"It's tradition," Rin grunted as she swung at the bed again. "Your family can not have you shamed by starting your new life in an old bed. If you had sleeping mats we would have burned them, but no, you have to be all modern and have a bed and that means an axe. Zeniba already destroyed the one at Haku's house last week. He still can't work out how she got in; he would be furious if he knew his own river dismantled his defences. It was quite accommodating, though she was practically stampeded by a mad horse spirit."

Chihiro smiled the mental image that popped into her head of the Nygel chasing Zeniba around Haku's home.

With the work of a few moments and six well calculated swings, Rin had reduced the bed to kindling; mattress and blankets were shredded beyond repair.

"There!" she said, dusting wood chips from her dress. "Now keep quiet and do as you're told. When we get to the train we will untie you." Chihiro rolled her eyes and Rin pulled her into the sitting room.

Linca was wearing the same white dress that Rin was, but the colour and cut did not suit her so well. In fact, Chihiro thought she looked ugly. Not that the spirit seemed to care. She was delivering a monologue to the dragon, who seemed to be having trouble keeping a straight face.

"…we will be removing our sister this morning and taking her into our care. At the end of the traditional term of two nights, you shall be able to take her as your mate. She will be cleansed of all previous acts and will be returned to you only if you have made suitable provisions for her care." She nodded to Meeka who was hovering near a window.

"Meeka will be our factor and has the power to inform us if our requirements are not met. We will brook no insult against our kinswoman." Linca gestured towards Chihiro and said, "Do you promise us on your honour to abide by our prerequisites in order to obtain our sister as your mate?" Haku grinned but answered in kind.

"By my honour and name I do swear."

"Excellent!" said Linca, clapping her hands and returning to her normal self. Haku glanced at Chihiro and his smile slowly faded. Chihiro felt like all the strings of her heart had just been plucked simultaneously.

"Can't we at least say goodbye?" she pleaded.

"Hush!" commanded Rin.

"Oh, we may as well let them," sighed Linca. "Look at them; they are missing each other already!"

"It's not proper," said Rin.

"Who's going to tell?" wheedled Linca. "There are only the five of us here."

"Alright," snapped Rin. "But quickly." She shoved Chihiro in Haku's direction.

Chihiro stumbled, but the dragon caught her around the waist and pulled her to him. He touched her face, once again marvelling at the softness of her skin. Chihiro gazed up at him and felt like she was drowning in his emerald eyes.

"The next time we meet I'll be asking you if you are willing to be my mate," he murmured softly.

"The answer will be _yes_," Chihiro breathed.

Without another word, his lips claimed hers in a hungry kiss, leaving her in no doubt exactly how much he was going to miss her. Chihiro lost herself in his embrace, but before he was finished with her she was roughly tugged away.

"Alright, break it up you two; you're going to make us sick," chuckled Linca. She grinned up at Haku and the dragon glared down at the white haired spirit balefully.

"Tut tut, dragon. We said you could say goodbye, not stick your tongue down her throat."

With that, Chihiro was dragged from the room. Haku stared after her longingly. She contemplated trying to wriggle free of her captors and kiss him, one last time, but that would probably really fly in the face of whatever tradition Rin and Linca were trying to adhere to. Instead she mouthed "I love you" to him. A smile caught his lips but he still looked a little like a lost puppy. It was an image that she knew would probably haunt her heart over the next two days.

However, that thought was obliterated while she was being paraded like a trussed up prisoner through the bathhouse. It seemed that even the night shift had got up early to see the spectacle; the walkways and bridges were full of people cheering raucously and throwing flower petals. Chihiro heard the odd snide comment from the crowd but most seemed to be there to wish her luck. Rin and Linca proudly marched on either side of her, but Chihiro was terribly embarrassed by all the attention. She knew her parents would be in the crowd somewhere. What would her father think of all this?

Luckily she did not have to endure too much of it and was soon being pushed over the main bridge and down some steps behind the food houses and then onto a train platform she had never been on before. The train was already waiting for them. Chihiro was shivering uncontrollably and had snow flakes stuck all over her by the time she entered the relatively warm locomotive. Tickets were handed over; it was only the three of them on the train. Chihiro suspected that even spirits did not want to travel this early in the morning. Rin and Linca untied her and wrapped a warm shawl over her shoulders.

"If I end up with a cold and can't get through the ceremony, I'll blame you both personally," grumbled Chihiro, as she curled up on a seat.

"You'll be fine," said Linca breezily. "Everyone knows that you can't catch a cold from the cold." Chihiro kept shivering and almost wished she would get sick.

"Relax," said Rin, "The hard part is over for now. Get some sleep; we will be at Zeniba's in a few hours.

The train moved off and Chihiro caught sight of the first rays of sun painting the tundra-like plain with its pastel pallet. Green at first, then pale silver, then pink and then at last burnt orange. The light covering of snow on the spindly vegetation and tussocks of dead grass turned everything into a crystal sculpture; starkly and simply beautiful. Chihiro fervently hoped as she drifted into a light doze that it was a day like this for her mating.

Zeniba's cottage was bustling with life. No-face; Bou; Chihiro's parents; Chihiro's sisters; the witch and Chihiro were all squeezed into the cosy kitchen.

Tea flowed freely and biscuits, fresh from the oven, perfumed the room with their oaty aroma. Everyone was talking at once; laughing and joking with each other. Chihiro sat at a corner of the table feeling like she was the only one who was not enjoying the occasion. She felt as if she wanted to spend a few days in quiet contemplation and not have to deal with the combined hustle and bustle of her biological and adoptive family.

She smiled cheerfully and answered questions directed at her. She even managed to laugh at the bad jokes Linca was telling, but it was all a façade for the sake of her family. Finally, someone noticed her mood. A chilly hand fell on her shoulder, making her jump. She looked up into the rigid mask of No-face.

"Uh?" he said quietly, obviously questioning her.

"I'm alright," she murmured. Clearly he did not believe her, as he tugged at her shoulder and gestured to the kitchen door. Everyone else was preoccupied with the conversation and no one noticed Chihiro and No-face slipping away from the table and out the door to the garden.

Chihiro leaned against the rough hewn stones of the cottage wall, glad of the biting morning air. She felt like she could finally breathe again. She inhaled deeply, several times, feeling the cold air sting her lungs, then she sneezed. No-face was watching her carefully.

"Thank you, friend," whispered Chihiro, smiling up at him. "It was all getting a bit much for me."

"Uh?" Another question.

"Why? Well, I suppose because I'm unused to all the attention. Suddenly everyone is very concerned about what I do and I have all these rules to follow and traditions to uphold…" She slid down the wall and crouched, hugging her knees. No-face silently sat beside her.

"… all this stuff just does not seem like me very much," she continued. "I never wanted a big wedding if I ever got married. Now suddenly I'm getting mated and the ceremony is the social event of the decade." She frowned and then muttered bitterly.

"And all those people who gossiped, judged and said we would never last, will be there, merrily toasting our health, while behind our backs they will be placing wagers on how long it will be before he tires of me." Her lips thinned and she grimaced.

"And I'm supposed to just smile sweetly and let them get away with it."

"Uh!" said No-face slipping a cold, shadowy arm around her shoulders.

"I know I should not let them bother me, but they do," said Chihiro to the sympathetic monster. "It's going to be hard enough getting mated, let alone having to be diplomatic and congenial at the feast and ball afterward. I hate parties; or rather I think they hate me. My troth plight party was good, but that was just a small affair. This is on an altogether different scale." She shivered but did not want to go back inside. Besides it was nice to talk to such a good listener.

"I don't want to embarrass Haku either; he seems to think that all the attention is just something we must grin and bear. That the day is less about us and more about the occasion." Chihiro's lovely face suddenly flushed with anger.

"Well I think that's nonsense!" she burst out. "This is _our_ day, celebrating and strengthening _our_ love. Instead I feel like I'm a freak on display. _Oh look at that cute little human trying to be one of us, oh how sweet._ Well they can all drop dead as far as I am concerned! I know they all loathe me being here; even the Lord thinks what I'm doing is wrong. They are all judgemental, self centred, egotistical…"

"Surely we are not all like that?" said a crisp voice. Chihiro looked up to see Linca standing with her back against the wall not two feet from them. The diminutive spirit's white eyes locked with her sister's. She was not hurt, Chihiro saw, but angry.

"I've been trying to hook you two up since you got here. I knew you loved each other but you were both too stubborn to admit it."

"I did not mean _you_," said Chihiro quietly.

"I know exactly what you meant, and you know what? It smacks of snivelling self-pity." Linca strolled over and took Chihiro's hands and roughly pulled her to her feet. No-face decided to be somewhere else and floated through the wall to rejoin those in the kitchen.

"You have a wonderful partner, whom you love very much, and he loves you so much he is willing to go against his own instincts and scorn his own kind and make you his mate. Have you ever thought what is going to happen to him when you are no longer around Chihiro? You will be the owner of his soul; you can't just give it back to him on your death bed; you will take it with you to the next world. He knew all this when he asked you to be his; it is a sacrifice of a magnitude that I can't grasp because I'm too selfish to even conceive of something so altruistic."

Linca stood on her toes and pressed her bluish face closer to Chihiro's so the human received the full impact of the anger in her eyes.

"He is effectively giving up his future for you, and you are moaning about entertaining people you dislike." Linca rocked back down onto her heels. "You were right when you said it was your day; it's that and more. What greater proof can there be that you love each other? Even your critics will respect that."

Chihiro swallowed and tried to think of something to say, but she was so shaken by the spirit's words that her throat seemed to have forgotten how to form speech. It had never occurred to her, even in her darkest moments, that Haku was making a sacrifice of any kind. Linca had astounded her. What would happen to her kind, tender, gentle white dragon when she passed on? And why had he not told her of what he was giving up?

"I… I never thought… I didn't know…. I" she stammered, distressed now at her own blissful ignorance.

"I know you didn't," said Linca sharply. "And you should know by now that I am always right."

"Wa… why did her not…?"

"Why didn't he talk to you about this? Probably because he knew how you would react and he did not want to burden you with the knowledge. Believe me, he would have thought about it very carefully before he even asked you to be his. But at the end of the day he is the possessive sort and he wants you as his and his alone. Don't fret over his decision; it was his to make and he made it freely and out of love." A grin crept across Linca's light blue lips. "And maybe a little bit out of jealously. I can't blame him; you're the catch of the century." Chihiro smiled weakly. Linca took her hand.

"This is what the cleansing is about, Chihiro; learning from the collective advice and experience of your family. You must try and see your decision from all angles. I told you this because I knew he had left you in ignorance about it and that is not fair on you. This ceremony was never meant for a human, Chihiro; it takes no account of your lifespan. He will be fine without his soul, but not the same as he is now. Part of him will be lost forever. I suggest you talk this over with him tonight."

"How?" Chihiro asked. "I'm in confinement and he's about 200 miles away."

"Oh, I don't expect he'll obey the rules to the letter. He'll contact you somehow; you can depend on it. His bed will be very cold tonight and he will be a very lonely dragon," chuckled Linca, her demeanour cheerful once more. She patted Chihiro's hand.

"And as for the party, you can be as rude and obnoxious as you like. You will be the mate of one of the most powerful spirits around. No one is going to argue with you while you have _him_ on your arm."

Chihiro could not help smiling. The picture Linca painted was a pleasant one, even if she did not intend to insult her guests.

"Now," said Linca authoritatively. "Get in the kitchen and be nice. Your guests you can be horrible to, but you are contractually bound to be good to your family." And with that Linca shoved Chihiro back into the bosom of her family.

Linca did indeed prove to be correct. Chihiro snuggled down under her blanket and got comfortable on her sleeping mat. Her sisters and parents were already asleep nearby and her father was snoring softly. She closed her eyes and drifted into a light sleep, and then she felt a warm, familiar presence in her mind.

"I know it's you, Haku," she thought at the presence, "and you're breaking the rules." His voice chuckled pleasantly at her words.

"I'm maintaining the spirit of them; I'm not actually there." His voice echoed in her head and she was very pleased to hear it; she had missed him today.

"I had to speak to you; all I've been doing all day is tying up loose ends so we can close. That and being mothered to death by Meeka." Chihiro smiled in her sleep.

"She has also been, err… instructing me on how to keep my mate happy. I pointed out that you are human and she knew little about humans. I also said that she had never had a mate and so was in a poor position to give advice."

"What did she say to that?" asked Chihiro.

"She cuffed me!" exclaimed Haku. "She actually hit me across the top of the head and told me to concentrate. I would have laughed if I had not been so shocked. I think she is taking this factor business way too far." Chihiro laughed.

"Well, I don't think you deserved it but she is acting with my best interests at heart, I suppose."

"Yes, that is true and it's the only reason that she is still herself and not currently residing in the pig pen," he muttered sourly.

"You make a lot of threats," observed Chihiro, "and they scare people because you really do have the power to follow through with them. But I have never really seen you do anything. I've come to the conclusion that your threats are as hollow as rotten wood."

"Not all of them," he muttered darkly. "Before you came along there was more than one person who really did end up in the pig pen. Never for very long; I never executed staff by slaughtering them in pig form and turning them into pork. Yubaba had a weakness for that sort of thing; she saw it as poetic justice. I, however, think it's a waste of staff and the meat that was once spirit never tasted very good."

"And it's morally wrong," added Chihiro.

"Oh, that too," he mumbled.

"Shouldn't that have been your first consideration?"

Haku sighed.

"I am not here to discuss ethics with you, Chihiro; we would be at it all night."

"So why are you here?" asked Chihiro.

"To say goodnight to you, and to hear your voice. I know you have not been gone long but I miss you already. It's as if we are already mated."

"And the bed is big and cold without me I bet," said Chihiro coyly.

"No. Well, it is but… what I mean is I'm on the sofa tonight. Rin's murdered my bed, remember? But you're right; I am lonely. I miss your warmth and the sound of your breathing. It's hard to relax without having you near me."

He sounded so sincere that Chihiro wanted to throw her arms around his neck and cover his face with kisses. But she couldn't; he wasn't there. That brought home to her how lonely he would be without her when her body finally failed her. She had no doubt that she would be in the best of health and still have all her faculties, no matter how old she got. Haku and her family would not have it otherwise. But she knew her body would eventually age and die. That was the way things were, and Haku would be left behind.

"Haku," she said gently. "What is going to happen to you when I die?"

The warm presence at the back of her mind grew cold at the question.

"Chihiro," he said at last. "We are about to become mates; this is not the time to be thinking about death. This should be the time we focus on our new life together and the happy future we have ahead."

"But I do think about it; it's something I'm sure you've accepted but you avoid discussing it. This is my cleansing time; a time when I'm supposed to think about my choice of mate. I've looked ahead, with Linca's help, and I've seen very few problems for us apart from my mortality. However reluctantly, I am going to leave you one day and I want to know how that will affect you, as I will be bonded to you spiritually."

"Why can't your sister keep her mouth shut?" he grumbled. "I have no answer for you, Chihiro, I don't know what would happen and to be honest I don't really care."

"I care!" Chihiro exclaimed. "You're my love; I will not knowingly damage you."

"You will knowingly damage me if you let a little thing like death get in the way of our happiness. Just turn up, the day after tomorrow, say the right words and I can get on with making your life as fulfilled as possible. I have no other objective for the next hundred years or so; you will be my only preoccupation."

"That and the bathhouse," quipped Chihiro.

"Damn the bathhouse! The whole place can burn to the ground for all I care," he growled. "Now stop this foolishness; and it _is_ foolishness. When you die I will probably go insane with grief anyway, with or without losing a part of myself. So, whether you become my mate or not, the outcome will be the same. When you die, I will have little else to live for…"

"Wait a moment, dragon," Chihiro interrupted indignantly. "What about any children we may have?" Again she felt the effect her words had on his presence in her mind; it shuddered with emotional confusion. "Will they lose both their father and mother on the same day? Would you orphan them, Haku?" The dragon was silent for some time; finally he spoke.

"No." Chihiro felt a flood of relief in making him see sense. Now at least he was thinking beyond her demise and not just of his own loss. "We better make sure we have children," he said quietly.

"All in good time; I'd like to have you to myself for a few years first." Chihiro felt the dragon's mood shift and start to lighten. "I need to find my way in this world and my place in it; then we can concentrate on making a family."

"You'll be a wonderful mother," he sighed.

"And you'll be a wonderful farther; as long as we have sons." She had confused him again. She chuckled and explained. "Well, if any girls we may have take after me, they will wrap you around their little fingers." He laughed at her, seemingly happy again.

"I'm still far from domesticated."

"Oh, give me time and I'll sort you out," said Chihiro slyly.

"I love you," he breathed, his beautiful voice echoing around her mind.

"I love you too," she replied.

"So, are you going to turn up to this ceremony then?" he asked, mock seriously.

"There's a strong possibility…" she said sleepily.

"If you leave me at the altar, I'll hunt you down…"

"Goodnight, Haku," she interrupted.

"Goodnight, little one," he said gently. "Sweet dreams"

And they were.

XXXXX

A quick thank you to all my amazing AO3 readers. Your comments and Kudos brighten my days. 


	5. The Cleansing Part 2

The next day, Rin and Linca woke Chihiro up at the first stirrings of dawn for her "cleansing bath." This seemed to be an excuse to strip off her clothes and dunk her in a cold stream, much to the amusement of the local water spirit who, luckily, was female.

"It's winter and there is snow on the ground. You are going to kill me!" squeaked Chihiro as her sisters poured buckets of stream water over her head. She stood in the icy, swift-moving water and shivered uncontrollably. The water gurgled happily.

"And you can shut up too!" Chihiro snapped at it, forcing the words out between her chattering teeth.

"Stop moaning," said Rin. "The water must be pure and this is the purest we could find." The water gurgled, pleased by the compliment.

"Besides," said Linca. "Cold is good for the soul and we want yours to be in top condition when you give it away."

"The purity of my soul will be of little benefit if my body has raging pneumonia," muttered Chihiro. "Haku will really thank you warmly for ruining the night of our mating."

"Nonsense," said Linca tipping another bucket full of water over the disgruntled human's head. "Dragon boy won't let a little thing like snot and phlegm get in his way."

"Linca that's disgusting!" exclaimed Rin, while filling her bucket.

"It's the truth; after two days of not seeing her, and then, when she shows up playing the blushing bride for a few hours... well, he will be gagging for her!"

_"Right!"_ thought Chihiro_. "I'm not putting up with any more of this!"_ She concentrated on the amused water flowing around her feet. It was having a great time; this was the best fun it had had in a decade.

_"River!"_ Chihiro snapped.

_"Yes?"_ replied a high and breezy little girl's voice.

_"Do you know who I am?" _

_"Yes,"_ it replied happily.

_"And do you know who my mate will be?" _

_"Yeesss,"_ said the river, a little more carefully.

_"Then with that in mind, would you do me a small favour?"_ Chihiro knew she was shamelessly pulling rank, but she rarely used the perks that came with her status as a dragon's lover and soon to be life mate.

_"I am at your service,"_ said the water, sounding servile and a little awed to be asked to do something by the famous human, Chihiro.

_"It's not too difficult; I just want you to dunk my sisters in you and hold on to them for a short while."_

No sooner had she thought her request at the water than there was a splash either side of her. Rin and Linca both squeaked and found themselves sitting up to their waists in freezing stream water. Chihiro waded out of the stream and informed it that she would tell Haku how helpful it had been. She hunted around for her clothes but could not find them on the bank where her sisters had dumped them.

"We hid your clothes in case you tried something like this," piped up a shivering Linca. Not even spirits were immune to the cold it would seem. "Now stop abusing your position and tell this poor, misguided spirit to let us go." Chihiro folded her arms and regarded the two spirits severely. Linca's bluish skin was almost white from cold, whereas Rin was pale but more from anger, Chihiro thought, than the cold. The woman looked about ready to spit nails.

"Clothes first!" Chihiro demanded. "Then I'll let you go."

"Not a chance!" snapped Rin. Chihiro shrugged.

"If that's the case then you can sit there until the river decides to let you go. I've had enough cleansing, for now, thank you." She wrung out her hair and started to pick her way over the frost hardened ground towards the cottage; not easy when her uncontrollable shivering kept making her slip on icy puddles.

"Your parents are in there!" shouted Rin. "Have you no shame?"

"Not really," Chihiro called over her shoulder and disappeared inside the cottage.

Rin and Linca looked at each other. The river was now giggling so hard it was threatening to burst its banks.

"I think all the power has gone to her head," said Rin. "It's partly our fault too; I think we may have overdone the family honour thing." She looked back at the cottage. "We've created a monster." Linca chuckled and then sneezed.

Chihiro opened the cottage door and sighed as the warm air caressed her chilled body. She stepped inside to see her father sitting at the table nursing a cup of tea. At the sight of his very naked daughter wandering into the kitchen, Akio dropped his cup and grabbed a towel that was on a rack by the range.

"You must be freezing!" he gasped and wrapped the towel around her. Modesty covered he retrieved one for her hair and another for her shoulders. Then he kicked off his house slippers for her to put her blue looking feet into. "What possessed you to go wandering around ..." he stopped himself and sighed. "Maybe it's best if I don't know." Chihiro looked at her hopelessly confused father and felt her resentment towards him start to wane. Despite all his disbelief, he was here and he had given her his blessing to her choice of mate. Maybe he would never understand her decision but at least he had accepted it. She lent over and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Dad," she whispered and then shuffled behind the curtained partition where the sleeping mats lay. Akio stared after her; was he forgiven? He felt like he did not know his daughter, but he could hardly look at her without seeing a little girl with pigtails and large, curious and questioning brown eyes. Her hands had been so tiny and she had called him "Super Daddy" because she thought he was so big and strong. But all this... it was difficult to place this world and her life in it, with the girl who had wanted to be a vet.

"Would you like another cup of tea?" Zeniba's voice woke him from his musings. He turned to the shrewd witch who was ginning at him knowingly. Just then, two very damp, scantily clad spirits slammed open the cottage door, slid over the kitchen floor and skidded into the sleeping area. There were a few moments filled with girlish shrieks and laughter from behind the curtain and then the back door slammed announcing that the trio had left. Zeniba held up the teapot.

"Yes, please," murmured Akio.

"I'll make it a large one," chuckled the witch.

Over dinner, Zeniba brought up the reason why they were all gathered.

"It falls upon us to point out the drawbacks of your choice. Not a pleasant task but we may have noticed things about him that you may not." Chihiro nodded solemnly and rested her hands on the table before her. She was not surprised that her father spoke first.

"I suppose the first thing is that he is not human." Chihiro found herself chuckling.

"Believe me, Dad, this is ground I have been over many times with myself, my sisters and Haku. I think I have that one sorted out in my head." Akio shrugged but then her mother spoke.

"But what of any children you may have? Won't they be half casts?" Chihiro winced at the indelicate term, but her mother had a valid point.

"They will be different," said Zeniba thoughtfully. "Torn between the world of logic and technology that their mother is from, and the world of magic and chaos that their father is part of. The blending of human and spirit blood can give unpredictable results. Your son or daughter may need specialist training in the magical arts, or may have no magical gift at all. No one knows or can predict such things." The witch smiled at Chihiro warmly.

"But to all intents and purposes, it will be like a normal child. If sweets start disappearing from the pantry when it is about three then you know what you are dealing with." The spirits around the table all chuckled at this; evidently, all had done such things in their youth.

"The child will age slower than a human does and will live far longer than any human would." Chihiro let this information sink in. Haku really would have comfort in any children they had. They would be with him far longer than she would. Her grandchildren, if she had any, would probably have more spirit blood again. If Haku was not careful he could be head of a very large family of spirits and part humans within three generations. Chihiro liked that idea.

"He's arrogant," piped up Rin. "It's not as bad since you came along but he still is very arrogant." Chihiro pursed her lips.

"What you say is true and it's an infuriating trait. It leads him into teasing me a great deal. I suppose he has a right to feel superior, being a water God, and a powerful one at that. But the point is he has never made me feel inferior to him. Well, not on purpose. His arrogance is something I can cope with." She saw her father's face darken, but he said nothing. The other faces at the table were more understanding, apart from Bou's, who was more interested in playing with his biscuit crumbs on the table.

"He has a hot temper," grumbled Linca.

"Oh, I know that and I don't let him get away with it. And I have a temper too, as you well know."

"He has two forms and a large part of him is rather wet," said Zeniba.

"I actually find his dragon form quite attractive and he is a very convenient form of transport. As for his river, well we are on good terms. I find it difficult to understand that elemental part of him. He tried to show me exactly what he was once. I nearly fainted with the enormity of it all. I tend to think of the river as his inner child. It's playful but does not understand much about the world and it needs attention and protection." There was silence at the table for a moment, and then finally Yuuko spoke.

"Correct me if I am wrong, Chihiro, but isn't he a little bit possessive?" Chihiro laughed and her sisters and Zeniba grinned.

"He's very possessive, Mum, but I think it just stems from his insecurity regarding my mortality; it will ebb with time, I am sure."

There was silence again.

"Come on!" exclaimed Chihiro. "You are supposed to be challenging me but I'm actually enjoying this."

"He's dangerous!" her father growled with venom.

"Of course he is," she countered. "And he has a slightly amoral streak that all my spirit friends and family seem to share." Rin looked offended. Linca shrugged accepting Chihiro's words. No-face seemed a little uncomfortable and Zeniba smiled at him. Bou drew pictures in a pile of biscuit crumbs with a wet finger.

"But I have been closely acquainted with that side of him," Chihiro continued. "It does not intimidate me. It never has."

"In fact she likes it!" exclaimed Linca. Chihiro blushed and Rin gave her impudent spirit sister a warning look. Again silence reigned. Chihiro stood.

"Well is that's the best you can all do I think I better start on the dishes..."

"He is secretive," said Zeniba quietly. Chihiro sat back down.

"I did not know him before he started working for my twin, but I knew of him, even before he knew of me. The strong ones do not pass through this world unnoticed. I know there are things in his past that he is not telling you and he may never tell you. You might get a shock at his confession, Chihiro," the witch sighed. "My point is can you live with the knowledge that he will probably never share everything with you?"

Chihiro swallowed. She knew getting personal information out of him was like getting blood out of a stone. It had never occurred to her that he might be wilfully hiding things from her. It hurt; it hurt that he did not trust her. She was not sure how to answer Zeniba, how could she defend him for not trusting her? Then again, she had not shared with him all the painful details of her childhood, mainly because she did not want to relive it and was not sure he would understand about school and college and therapists. She was about to tell Zeniba that he was not the only one who hid things, or rather forgot to share them, but Bou interrupted her.

"Do you love him, Sen?" he asked, his dark eyes fixed on her face with childish intensity.

"Yes," she replied.

"All of him? Not just the nice bits? Even his sharp teeth?"

"Yes," said Chihiro, her mouth turning up at the corners. "Even the bad things about him, including his teeth."

"Then you should be his mate," he said with utter conviction.

"It's not that simple, Bou," said Linca gently. "Relationships are more complicated than that, there are other considerations."

"Why?" asked the child and his button nose wrinkled up in a frown.

"Well... err..." Linca seemed at a loss, no one else was forthcoming with an answer. Bou looked at Chihiro.

If you love him, you should be his and he should be yours. That's the way things are meant to be," he declared and then he stood and shuffled away from the table to play with the infinitely patient No-Face. Linca laughed and shrugged.

"Well if Bou says it's true, then it must be so." Chihiro watched No-Face lead the large child outside and wondered if Yubaba was missing him.

Yubaba hung over her crystal ball, watching the happy looking gathering at her sister's house. It was taking a huge amount of power to spy on her sister without arousing her suspicion. Also, Haku had placed a number of spells on her sister's cottage as an extra layer of protection for his intended life mate. He had grown more cautious since she had been blamed for the kappa incident. As if she would try something that inane! Haku had doubled the number of combat-trained staff on duty at any one time and Chihiro was always well protected. In fact, Yubaba would not have been able to spy on her at all without Kenshin's help. The air spirit stood beside her, his head bent forward so his dark, matt black hair covered his face and intense eyes. He was lifelessly still but she could feel his magic flowing out of him. It was like a strong wind that that did not stir so much as a speck of dust. He was calming both Zeniba and Haku's defensive spells, drawing on nearly 100,000 years of experience as a magic-user to counteract the complex incantations.

"Does it seem like she will go through with it?" His smooth deep voice slipped into her mind, as beautiful and deadly as a pit viper. The crystal ball, however, only showed images; Yubaba would have loved to listen in to the conversation but that would take much more power. Quite frankly it was beyond her if she wished to spy regularly. But she could guess from the smiles and animated conversation everyone was having that Chihiro would be at the temple tomorrow.

"It looks like it," she mumbled.

"Are you certain?" The question was asked softly, but carried a hint of threat. Yubaba bristled.

"Yes. I can't be a hundred per cent sure but it does not look like a family in crisis."

"Let me see."

Before Yubaba could question the wisdom of him stretching himself in that way, she found herself mentally shoved aside and Kenshin moved his consciousness into her mind. She felt the spirit using her eyes to look at the glass. Yubaba forced down her panic at no longer being in control of her body and let the air spirit do what he wished. She reminded herself that the plan he had was sound and if all worked well she would have a bathhouse at the end of it.

They were sadly restricted by the defences as to what they could see; only half the occupants of the table could be clearly seen and Chihiro had her back to the view. Yubaba could feel Kenshin's frustration. He was almost trying to get the human to turn around by sheer force of will, wanting to put a face to his possible nemesis. He must have lost concentration for a moment, or one of those cursed magical gifts the girl carried might have sniffed something it did not like. Whatever the reason, the girl turned sharply and stared right into the crystal. She had changed since Yubaba had last seen her. She wore her hair down and the deep glossy tresses framed her round but delicate face. Yubaba thought she had matured, perhaps more woman than girl now, and quite pretty. Chihiro's limpid brown eyes, framed by long dark lashes, gazed intently at whatever she was seeing. It was as if she was looking right at Yubaba.

The effect she had on Kenshin was electric. So many emotions screamed through his consciousness that Yubaba could not distinguish one from the other. The image in the crystal faded and Kenshin practically ripped himself from the witch making her stagger.

"So that is what all the fuss is about." He said to himself quietly. I can perhaps understand somewhat... how interesting." He looked at Yubaba who was pale and sweaty from her exertions. He seemed to shake himself from his musings.

"The plan does not change. Did you create the pestilence?"

Yubaba was still trembling slightly, but she managed to pick up a small bottle from the table. In it was a small mosquito-like insect, which buzzed ominously behind the glass.

"Excellent," he said curtly. He stood still for a moment as if unsure what to do next. He ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back from his pale face and ethereal grey eyes.

"Send it tomorrow," he said at length. "During all the celebrating no one will be watching for something so small." He sighed and then frowned at the witch. "You did not make it deadly did you?"

"No, I did as you instructed, life-threatening but not deadly. It will be symptomatic within a few months and it's not contagious." Kenshin nodded and his attention seemed to wander back to the now transparent crystal ball.

"Thank you, Yubaba," he said absently. "Forgive me for using you like that, but I had to see..."

"I understand," said the witch magnanimously.

"No, you don't," he said and smiled at her coldly. "But thank you all the same."

"Chihiro?" Zeniba's voice broke into her thoughts. She turned back to the witch seated at the head of the table.

"Sorry, granny, I thought I saw something."

"It was probably just a draught blowing the drapes dear; this is an old cottage and the wind gets in all over the place. Now, would you be so kind as to help an old woman with the dishes?" Chihiro gave the window another penetrating look but the disconcerting feeling of being watched had vanished.

Zeniba knew very well that her sister had been watching. She let her watch so she could see that they were all happy and that her child was healthy and well cared for.

Then she had felt another presence spy into her home and steal a look at the sacred proceedings of the cleansing. It was male, and strong. Very strong; stronger than herself, and perhaps a match for Haku. It was old too; chillingly old. Now Zeniba was no spring chicken, 30,000 years was respectable by any standards, but this spirit could be twice that, if not more. She had let it look, hoping to gain information that may help Chihiro in the future, but Chihiro had turned and the spy had fled. Zeniba was worried, but she would perhaps tell Haku after the ceremony. After all, the dragon had much on his mind at present.

That evening, Chihiro was wondering over the frozen fields of swamp bottom. Granny liked to grow her own rice and vegetables and the flat plain regularly flooded making it ideal for her proposes. Now, however, there were just a few bare cherry and peach trees and the cultivated ground held nothing, having been turned over in preparation for the spring sowing.

It was cold, very cold, and the stars burned brightly against the black tapestry of the winter sky. Chihiro looked up and found the constellation of the dragon. She smiled; the constellation looked completely different to its cousin in the human world. The string of stars resembled a worm more than a dragon. Haku had been greatly offended when she had told him that. Frosted ground cracking underfoot alerted her to her father's presence. He came to stand beside her, his breath fogging in the chill air.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked. Chihiro said nothing. "Well, I suppose I should not complain, at least you have your clothes on now." A small smile tugged at Chihiro's lips.

"It was just a joke they played on me. I refused to give in so had to return with no clothes."

"That sounds so unlike you," Akio muttered. "You would never have done anything like that at home."

"This is my home," she corrected gently, still looking at the sky. Akio looked up also.

"I don't recognise these stars," he grunted.

"It's the same sky," Chihiro muttered. "We just see a different part of the universe." Akio shook his head.

"I'm no quantum physicist; I find all this very hard to..." He trailed off and shrugged his shoulders.

"Go back in the house, Dad," said Chihiro, wishing to be alone with her thoughts on her last night as a single human.

"I have something to say first."

Chihiro braced herself and looked back at her father. She realised she was looking down slightly. She was taller than he was. She had never noticed the difference in height before and suddenly her father seemed much smaller, almost pitiable. He was shuffling his feet and trying to order his thoughts. Chihiro felt an almost superior sort of affection for him. She had come to that realisation that every child must, sooner or later. Her parents were human and were therefore subject to all the hypocrisies and weaknesses that humanity entailed. She felt herself start to forgive him.

"I know I've done wrong by you. I should have been more open-minded, but how could I know? You were a different sort of child anyway and when you came out with all that nonsense... I thought I was helping you." He looked up at her. "This dragon; I know I've given my blessing but I must ask you to think again about this. He is sly and clever; I see that. He may have saved your life once but you have no obligation to him. The debt is mine and your mother's. I know he is rich but will he make you happy too?" Chihiro thought for a moment, touched by his paternal concern.

"Do you have any other objections apart from these?" she asked gently.

"No, as I said you have my blessing. But marriage is hard, Chihiro. Well, this is a sort of marriage from what I understand. Your mother and I have had our problems but we have worked through them. How many more problems will you have marrying a dragon? A creature that is not even a member of your species. I don't want to have to see you unhappy in your marriage... or whatever it is you call it. Your life has been difficult enough without you adding burdens to yourself."

"I love him, Daddy," she whispered in an almost childlike voice. "He is generous and gentle. He makes me laugh and treats me like a princess. He is almost totally selfless when I'm with him and I can't bear to be without him. Even these two days have been hard for me. I love him desperately, so much so I have happily left my own world behind to be a part of his, even though his place is hostile to humans by its very nature. He's my soul's mate; I'm his and he is mine."

Akio Ogino heard his little girl speak of her love and felt his heartbreak. She would always be his little girl, but now she was a woman and was giving herself to another. This was bittersweet at best. At least she was happy, and that was really all that mattered. He kissed her brow and whispered.

"If that is the case then he deserves you. I could not bear to let you go for anything less than if you had found love. Be happy Chihiro and try to forget what we did." Chihiro's lips trembled but her voice was steady.

"I will try," she whispered.

That night, Chihiro was surprised by how tired she was. She knew she would have no trouble sleeping despite the ceremony being only hours away. She listened to the sounds of her family settling down to sleep around her. Soon enough, everyone was breathing deeply with the occasional light snoring. Chihiro fought against her tiredness; she had something she needed to do first.

She gripped her Tac'Tal and felt for the one who had made it. It took her a little time, there was a considerable distance between them, and her mind was fumbling slightly with the task. Finally, she found him. He was wide-awake and seemed to have no intention of resting. She pushed a little deeper and discovered he was nervous. Very nervous. He also knew she was checking up on him and was surprised she had managed to do so over such a distance.

"You really are becoming adept at using that thing," he grumbled at her.

"You gave it to me," she thought at him sourly.

"Yes, but I did not expect you to master its powers and spy on me."

"I'm just making sure you are alright!" she protested.

"And breaking the rules," he pointed out. "Don't let Rin know you've spoken to me the night before the ceremony; she will think our union cursed."

"It already is cursed; I'm human, you're immortal, we need no ill omens to tell us that," chuckled Chihiro. Haku was not amused.

"You can still back out now if you like, we don't have to do this."

Chihiro smiled to herself.

"Stop fretting Dragon, I'll see you tomorrow."

"I can't help it," he sighed heavily in her mind. "There is so much to do before I even think of the ceremony. I want everything to be perfect for us."

"And you're nervous about the ceremony," said Chihiro.

"So what if I am?" he mumbled.

"Whatever you tell me tomorrow, Haku, I'll still love you," she told him, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

"Perhaps," he said darkly. Then he sighed again. "Please, go to sleep, I'll be fine. I think I'll go for a bit of a night flight, it will clear my head."

"Alright. Goodnight," said Chihiro and she let herself slip from him. She was magically drawn back to him, however.

"I forgot to tell you," he breathed, his voice sounding excited in her mind now. "You may want to look outside little one. Call it a gift." Then he released her. Chihiro blinked and pinched herself to make sure she was finally back in the world of the physical. She rose quietly and tiptoed through the sleeping bodies to the heavily draped window.

She slipped behind the drapes and curled up on the windowsill. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the moonlight. Then she realised there was no moonlight. In fact, the panes of glass seemed to be blocked over with something. She carefully opened the window and stared. Big, fat flakes of snow were drifting silently down from the sky, which only two hours before had been cloudless. It was almost a complete white-out; she could barely distinguish between ground and sky. The only feature that enabled her to tell one from the other was the fence that ran around Zeniba's cottage. It still had half its height poking from the pristine drifts.

Her white dragon had turned the world white for the day she would become his mate.

"Thank you," she whispered simply to the white sky.

XXX

A/N- I'm a sucker for a bit of fluff XD 


	6. The Ceremony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one folks, you have been warned.

Linca woke Chihiro at dawn.

"Come on sleepyhead!" she crowed. "The sun is up, there is 2 foot of snow on the ground and your body is mine for the next three hours. All males have left the premises and will not return. By the time they see you again at the temple, you will be looking immaculate."

Chihiro suffered Linca's ministrations with good humour. She was bathed and rubbed with scented oils from head to toe. Then Linca styled her hair. The sprite piled up the human's hair on her head, pinning it with diamond-studded pins. Then she started to braid loose ends into complex loops. She even worked in a small hair ornament, a snowflake made from pure crystal filigree. It flashed and sparkled against Chihiro's dark hair.

"Wonderful," sighed Linca when she had finished her creation. Chihiro had to admit, she had never seen her hair look so good.

"Now don't go fiddling with it or I shall have to use magic to keep it in place. Now, where is Rin? I'm doing her rat's nest next."

"Wha... Oh no you're not. I'm just braiding my hair back!" snapped Rin who had started to edge towards the door Linca stepped towards her and she bolted. Linca chased after her, brandishing a bristle brush and carrying hairpins clamped between her determined blue lips.

Zeniba poured the human a cup of tea and moved to a cupboard in the corner. She removed a garment on a hanger, hidden by a black cloth. Chihiro eyed it suspiciously.

"Wait till you have your undergarments on and your make up, then you can see it," said Zeniba kindly.

Chihiro removed her bathrobe and slipped on a sheer black silk vest and a pair of ridiculous looking bloomer-like knickers that Zeniba handed her. It was traditional for the family of the female to provide her garment. She was not allowed to even see it until the day of the ceremony. Chihiro had no idea what kind of garment would require her to wear undergarments that made her hips look much bigger than they already were. Zeniba sat her down and started to apply her cosmetics. She painted Chihiro's lips dark, cherry red and shaded her eyes with earthy tones, spreading the colour right up to her eyebrows. Zeniba then applied powder to her face, making the human look paler, and just a hint of blush to the cheeks. Chihiro had never liked make-up that much but at least the effect was reasonably subtle. If Linca had done her face, Chihiro was quite sure the spirit would have applied face paints with a garden trowel and she would have ended up looking like a cross between a geisha and Cleopatra.

Zeniba then opened an ornate pewter jar that hissed when opened. Chihiro recognised the contents; dragon scales.

"They are actually Haku's. I took the liberty of borrowing a few, last time he was here; they are good for potions. I probably should have asked but they were just lying on my path."

She removed one of the thumb-sized pearlescent scales. Chihiro examined it closely; it was almost translucent; she could see the shadow of her finger through it. It had a slight iridescent sheen on the surface that caught the light, sending pinks and purples dancing across its surface. She always thought he was stunning in his dragon form and that scale oil Rin had given him had come in very handy. She smiled to herself; the last time she had demanded to check him over he had wrapped his sinuous body around her and held her there like a python with its prey. He had held her there until she apologised and then released her. He had told her that all she had to do was ask nicely and next time she could inspect his scales at her leisure. He did so enjoy her clambering all over him. She chuckled to herself at the memory. He really was tolerant of her and she had not been frightened when the scale-covered body had looped around her, in fact... it had been... well... quite... sensual.

Zeniba applied egg white to the back of the scale she was holding and pressed it to Chihiro's cheek, where it stuck. Zeniba worked carefully, and when she finished, Chihiro's cheekbones and forehead were covered with scales; it looked almost like she had grown them herself. It was then Chihiro realised that Rin, Linca and her mother had all come in and stopped what they were doing to watch the witch work.

"I thought," said Zeniba quietly, "that there cannot be any better adornment on your mating day than your dragon's own scales."

"She looks wonderful," breathed Yuuko, watching the colours on the scales dance and swirl in the light. Chihiro actually saw Zeniba blush.

"Well, she is not finished until she has her outfit on," Zeniba said gruffly.

The witch moved to the cloth obscured garment and removed the covering without preamble. It was a full-length silk kimono of the purest white, with a broad plain white obi to go with it. Embroidered on the garment in silver thread were snowflakes; a myriad of them. In places the material could barely be seen for silver thread. Amazed, Chihiro realised as she examined it, that each individual snowflake was different in some way from the others near it. It took her a moment to comprehend that, like real snowflakes, no two of these embroidered snowflakes were the same. Chihiro was speechless as the kimono was slipped over her shoulders. It settled on her, her black vest just peeking through where the garment was open at her throat. The outrageous underwear came into its own ensuring the heavy silk flowed smoothly over her hips, rump and legs. The obi was wound around her middle and pulled tight.

"We thought it best if you went barefoot," said Rin. "You are carrying a lot of fabric and we thought complex shoes would be uncomfortable and sandals would not look quite right with this."

"Which is why I insisted on giving you a pedicure earlier," said Linca proudly.

"It's beautiful," sighed Chihiro, finding her voice at last.

"No, you're beautiful," whispered Yuuko, kissing the tip of her daughter's nose to avoid smudging her make-up.

Now Chihiro was finished, the women attended to themselves. Chihiro discovered that the male members of the household had left well before dawn so they could travel to the temple and ensure all was going ahead as planned. The female members of the house were all dressing in dark blue kimonos, apart from Zeniba, who preferred to remain in her grandmotherly blue dress.

"It's how I'm recognised," she said. "You'd think a huge head, no neck, massive eyes and a large wart would give me away as one of the cursed witch twins, but apparently not. It's the stupid dress, so I and my sister have grown used to wearing it. Saves having to introduce ourselves; our formidable reputation precedes us."

Soon all were finished and Chihiro voiced something that had been bothering her.

"I know you probably have everything sorted out but... If we take the train, isn't it going to take a whole 24 hours to get back to the bathhouse? It conveniently only goes one way."

"And your point is?" asked Linca.

"We are supposed to be at the temple by noon today."

The spirits and the witch smiled. Zeniba shuffled to the huge range that kept the kitchen warm, then put her hand to the brick wall behind it and said a few words. A tiny secret drawer popped out of the bricks. In it was Zeniba's solid gold monogrammed seal. It looked like an ordinary letter sealer. A frog decorated the top and on the bottom, an ornate Z was incised into the gold. The witch held it in her gnarled hand and muttered something and it glowed orange.

"Everyone hold hands in a circle, please," said the witch.

Everyone did and the witch ducked beneath Rin and Linca's clasped hands to stand in the middle of the circle.

"For the benefit of the humans present, I'll explain what we are doing," she intoned gravely. "I'm about to cast a long-distance transportation spell; you must brace yourselves. Stand with your feet apart and bend your knees or you may fall over on the other side."

The witch then closed her eyes. Chihiro saw an orange haze surround them all then a great wind seemed to howl in her mind.

All five women vanished from the kitchen in a puff of orange smoke.

Chihiro found herself standing in a small, dimly lit chamber, complete with all the female members of her family, still holding hands. To her left was a large door with muffled voices coming from beyond it. Many muffled voices. Chihiro knew the hall of the temple must be through that door. All of a sudden she was exceptionally nervous. Her mother saw her daughter's hands start to tremble and took them in her own.

"I'm so proud of you," Yuuko whispered.

Rin smiled at her sister over Yuuko's shoulder.

"Enjoy it if you can; it's not as bad as you think. Don't look at the crowd; they are not important," she said.

Linca practically squeezed the life from her sister, rumpling her pristine kimono.

"You'll be fine; don't take too long over all this. I want to get through at least two large bottles of sake before nightfall."

"You look radiant," said Zeniba warmly. "People will talk about this day for years to come."

Chihiro nodded, unable to speak. The noise from behind the door was starting to turn to hushed whispers. Chihiro's hands shook a little harder and her mouth was dry.

"Can we go now?" she croaked. "Or I'm going to lose my nerve." Linca smiled at her and nodded.

Rin, Yuuko, Linca and Zeniba stood in twos behind her. Chihiro just concentrated on her breathing. If she could breathe, then she would be able to walk; if she could walk, she could get through this. The door swung open, apparently unaided, and Chihiro saw that her father, No-Face and Bou were standing either side of the door. The hall was larger than Chihiro remembered it. Then again, at her bonding she had had many things on her mind; she forgave herself quite easily for not remembering the huge cavernous room, with its black stone floor, teak pillars and beams, in more detail. It seemed a very long walk, from where she stood, to the cherry tree altar at the end.

The goddess of the spirits and her mate stood at either side of the altar. Both deities were resplendent in purple robes. Everyone was standing and people were packed thirty deep on either side of Chihiro, leaving a long corridor of black floor for her to traverse. She could not see Haku. She took a deep breath and started to walk, setting a slow sedate pace for those following her. She was aware that after twenty paces or so that she was no longer being followed. She was alone, walking though the packed and silent hall, head held high and eyes fixed on the distant altar. No shoes had definitely been a good idea. Instead of 'clip clopping' or 'slip slapping' her way up to the altar, she was silently gliding in a pair of thick woollen socks. Haku would laugh when he saw them, she was sure, but for now her feet were hidden by fabric seemingly made from snowflakes.

When she judged she was half way to the altar, Chihiro stopped. It was hard to stand still; she wanted to fidget; play with her kimono or pluck at her nails; anything instead of just standing there, being watched by thousands. She fought to keep still. Her patience was rewarded; Haku stepped before the altar, bowed to the gods and turned to face her.

The silence was absolute; only the slight creaking of the beams high above could be heard, protesting at the weight of snow the roof held. They stared at each other for a long moment, simply drinking the sight of each other in. Haku was dressed completely in black, and much more traditionally than anything she had ever seen him before. In a midnight kosode and haori he looked more like a deity than the two gods that flanked him. His hair was the way he always had it, but with the black clothing it shone green in the weak winter sunlight. His face seemed pale, as if he had not slept much over the last few days but his jaw had a determined set to it. His eyes... Oh, his eyes... He was like an open book to Chihiro. She could see the emotions within him war for supremacy. Shock, pride, fear and pure lust all flicked in the jade depths.

Haku thought he had never beheld anything more exquisite. Chihiro was a radiant vision in snow white. The colour complimented her dark hair and made her dark eyes seem large and doe like. He tried to burn this image of her into his memory; Chihiro in the flower of her youth, on their mating day, with his scales shimmering on her cheeks and forehead. She was nervous; he could feel it; but she had walked up the aisle like a princess, gliding gracefully over the floor. He only saw admiration in her eyes now; no fear or tension, and his heart skipped a beat. He suddenly realised it was time for him to speak. He looked at no one else, just fixed his gaze on her and spoke only to her. The crowd was a mere memory.

"Are you free and willing to come to me? To be loved and cherished be me for the rest of your lifespan? To be mine and forsake all others with a claim on your heart and soul?" His low lilting voice seemed to fill the hall, though he spoke softly and to Chihiro it sounded as intimate as the rustle of satin sheets. There was only ever to be one answer.

"Yes," she said decisively.

"Then come forward," he almost whispered. Chihiro resumed her transit of the hall, a little less sedately this time. She reached the altar steps and Haku stepped forward took her hands and guided her up the stairs to stand before the altar.

The Goddess moved in front of the couple, her blue skin gleaming and her violet eyes twinkling. She gave them both a huge wink and mouthed "well done" to Chihiro. That seemed to take the pressure off them both and Chihiro relaxed a little.

"We have all gathered here..." intoned the goddess, "to witness a very rare event; the union of two souls. It is rarer, still, because these are not two normal spirits, but a human and a dragon.

"Such a level of commitment has not been made between two such as these for as long as most of you can remember. In the past such things were more common and it gladdens my heart to see a human and a spirit existing harmoniously together once more. I bonded this human to this world and she is dear to me, as is this dragon, whom I have watched since his creation. I give my blessing to this mating; may you both grow and prosper through your love and support of one another, and continue to be a shining example to us all that love really does conquer all."

She made a complex gesture with her right hand and magic crackled through the air. Haku turned to face Chihiro and Chihiro followed suit. Once again they were almost lost in each others eyes. Haku began to speak again.

"I love you Chihiro Ogino, with all my mind, body and soul. I offer you my position in society and the protection of my name. I will shelter you within my household and gladly forsake all others."

Chihiro was trembling slightly again but when she spoke her voice was steady.

"I love you Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, with all my mind, body and soul. I have little else to offer you than that. I will gladly dwell in your household as your mate and give you a lifetime of love and happiness."

Chihro's mouth was very dry, she tried to work a little moisture into it but it was a fruitless task. The Lady handed Chihiro a highly decorated silver chalice and to Haku she gave a wicked looking silver dagger with a jewelled hilt.

"We require a sacrifice," intoned the Lord. His terracotta skin clashed slightly with his purple robes, but he did not seem to know or care. "As a symbol of the integrity of your intent."

Haku held his right hand over the cup and drew the dagger across the back of his hand sharply, creating a long thin cut. Blood welled up and he tilted his hand so three large drops fell into the chalice. He took Chihiro's left hand and gave her a moment to compose herself; she still winced as the blade bit into the back of her hand but managed to stop herself pulling away. She bled more than he did and a steady trickle dribbled into the waiting cup. The chalice was then passed back to the Goddess, who then tipped the cup to her lips and drank its contents. Haku gently held Chihiro's still bleeding hand in his own seeing that she was trying desperately not to stain her garments. Chihiro did not think it was the best idea for him to be so close to her bleeding hand. She had caught the feral gleam in his eyes and knew full well what even the smell of her blood could awake in him. He was controlling himself for the moment, however, and Chihiro suspected that it was something he could easily ignore if he chose to; for instance, if she was bleeding to death. She could not help smiling at him.

The Goddess licked her lips and grinned at them both.

"The pledges have been made and we find the sacrifice acceptable. Now pray silence for the confession."

The crowd did not really need to be told; there had been some mutters over how much blood Chihiro had shed but all was quiet once more.

"A silence spell shall be cast; none will hear what is said, save the intended." Then she whispered to Chihiro and Haku.

"Take as long as you need, there is no hurry." Then the two of them could hear nothing accept their own breathing. Silence stretched between them; finally Haku spoke.

"I... You... You're breathtaking," he whispered. His voice sounded oddly subdued, as if he were speaking to her on a bad telephone line.

"So are you," she replied. Her voice sounded thin and tinny to her ears. He smiled and reached towards her, lightly brushing the scales on her face with his finger tips.

"Whose idea was this?"

"Zeniba's," she replied.

"They look better on you than they do on me..." he trailed off and the pregnant silence replaced his distorted voice. Chihiro said nothing, happy to wait until he was ready.

"I... I suppose I better confess then," he said eventually, not even looking at her now. Suddenly he was no longer a commanding river god but the sad and lonely little boy she had known when she was ten; gentle and unsure.

"Yes let's get this over with; if we take too long Linca may start passing out the vodka before we get the banquet."

He sighed and then looked at her, as if only at that moment making up his mind about something.

"Well..." he began, "this may take some explaining and it was a long time ago, about 7000 years I think. I was a normal bonded river spirit back then and my river was healthy and untouched, though smaller than it is now. There were humans around, of course, but they were primitive and held no more than a passing interest for me. A clan of sorts lived in a cave system not far from me and I was their main source of water. We had a series of cold winters, about three in a row. I remember struggling not to freeze completely in places, and guiding fish to the deepest pools where they would be safe. I watched these humans battle with the elements and saw how little they were managing to trap and gather. Their old died and the ground was too hard to bury them; they lay them outside the cave mouth, left to be taken away by animals. Their children grew sick and the adults grew thin. I felt pity for them; they were obviously suffering and in danger of starving to death. But this was the way of things; nature is cruel at times, so I did nothing.

"Then one bitterly cold day the clan came to me and laid their youngest children on the ice of my river. I realised that they meant to expose them, choosing for their weakest offspring a quick death, instead of the suffering they would endure. I was horrified and shamed by their actions. They were clad in the meanest tattered skins and looked at their children struggling on the ice with hollow eyes, their infants too weak to cry and the adults too weak to morn them. I appeared to them as a dragon; they thought I was going to eat them and welcomed the quick end I would bring to them. Sickened, I told them firmly that I did not desire their flesh and that there was no need to let the elements claim their children. I would provide them with enough fish to see them through the winter and when they were strong enough I would show them new techniques for hunting and preserving what they gathered so they would not go hungry another winter. I did what I did out of pity, and did not foresee that in interfering with the natural way of things I had just made myself an all powerful and benevolent deity to them. They started to worship me."

He paused and ran his fingers through his hair nervously, Chihiro noticed his speech pattern had changed, becoming more florid and eloquent but definitely not the way he spoke now. She guessed he was regressing slightly as he told the story. She had no clue where he was going with it, but found the tale fascinating, none the less.

"I found it amusing at first and accepted their offerings of food and flowers with a kind of conceited condescension. I began to become more involved with them; talking to the children I liked best as they seemed to have no fear of me. But I must admit I also enjoyed plotting to bring certain young people together, thinking I would be helping if I encouraged the strongest members of the clan to breed. I even started appearing to people who came to my banks to pray. I knew in my heart I should not be encouraging them; the tribe was thriving and they had no real need of me anymore. But I found them entertaining and I was helping them. Things were amicable between us for a few years; they respected me and I accepted and helped them when I felt like it.

"Then one summer a comet appeared in the sky; it burned in the heavens for fourteen nights and this, for reasons beyond my comprehension, terrified them. Suddenly they were all praying to me at once, begging me to aid them in whatever disaster the fire in the heavens pertained to. I told those I appeared to that it was merely a natural phenomenon, nothing more. Some believed me, others did not and still feared for the future. I distanced myself from the doomsayers; that only seemed to encourage them as they started sacrificing animals on my banks in an effort to gain favour with me once more. I was not overly worried about this, the blood fertilised the river plants, the taste was not unpleasant, and it seemed to make them happy. I did nothing, but neither did I encourage them. They seemed to grow tired of it when they realised it did not gain them anything. I trusted that they had learned their lesson. But humans are nothing if not stubborn creatures.

"The first human was sacrificed to me that winter. They stripped naked and drugged this poor girl, in the prime of her youth; trussed her up and pushed her into my deepest pool to drown. I appeared to them with the girl in my coils and demanded that they end this foolishness. They retrieved the girl and I thought that was an end to the matter. However, on the next full moon they tried again, this time with a four year old child. I was furious with them; how could they so casually throw lives at me when I had depleted my rivers resources to support their measly lives over the years? I returned every sacrifice that was human but the more I rejected the more they became convinced that they must try harder to appease me so I would save them from doom. I withdrew myself further from them, only speaking to the children now. This seemed to make them all the more desperate. On the next full moon dozens of animals were sacrificed. I grew sick from all the blood in the water and had to enlist the aid of an air spirit to make it rain. Three days it took to wash away the smell and taste of blood from my river. I decided that I should sever all ties with them; such blood thirsty creatures they had become with little regard for life and I no longer wished to associate with them. I knew I was partly to blame but did not wish to admit it.

"All was quiet for a time, then the equinox came. There was such a number of animal sacrifices they where cutting the poor beasts throats for over an hour. My river ran almost black with the amount of blood that poured into it, fish and amphibians died, and the local spirits fled. They even threw the carcases into the water. Such a fury awoke in me that I could not contain it; I burned with outrage. How dare they pollute me thus when I had saved them! I crawled out of the water in dragon form they all fell to their knees when the saw me, grovelling on the blood soaked bank. I was revolted at the spectacle; prostrated before me they begged my assistance. Hatred filled me. I roared that I would have nothing more to do with them or their filthy kind ever again. They cowered before me and just to make sure they never bothered me again I grabbed the nearest of my worshipers and... and killed him."

"What?" hissed Chihiro, hardly believing her ears.

Haku closed his eyes and he had to tell her all, though it pained him deeply to do so. He would spare her no detail.

"I killed him," he repeated quietly, looking at her steadily. "I took him by the throat and ripped it out. Then I tore him limb from limb. He was just a boy; one I had spoken to in happier times. When I had finished there was very little left of him." Haku swallowed, his voice breaking, but he continued.

"I told them all that the next person who came to the banks of my river would suffer the same fate. The threat worked and they all ran screaming from me, never to return. I could hardly credit what I had done; to compensate, I immersed myself in my river and its workings, abandoning the physical world altogether for some time. I was not punished for my actions, most of the local spirits thought I had been just in my reaction and some wondered why I had not killed them all.

"But I could not forget that child's terrified screams; they haunted me constantly at first but as time went on I heard them less. I never could forget him though. The boy was not the first or last I killed but I have always done so in self-defence and I had never taken a human life before or since. Worst of all, the boy had been innocent of anything save annoying me. Time passed and the tribe moved on. Maybe that comet really did predict their doom after all. A different clan of humans arrived a hundred years later, but I ignored them completely. I let them fish, swim and clean their clothes within me but never showed myself to them. Even when people occasionally got into trouble I let the water claim them. I have forgotten how many have drowned within me, Chihiro."

Chihiro's bottom lip trembled and she closed her eyes for a moment, not caring if people saw her distress. Her mind grappled with the enormity of what he had told her.

Haku is a murderer!

Her mind shielded away from that thought, and especially that word. She knew his temper and his nature and could understand how his younger, more inexperienced, less worldly self could have been pushed into such an act. But her mind still returned to the fact he had killed, and not in self-preservation; this had been a blameless boy. She slowly opened her eyes, too distraught even for tears. At least now some mysteries were resolved.

"I guess that is why you now hate to be worshipped," she whispered.

"Yes," he replied, and I have more to tell you and it won't be easy for you to hear.

"More?" she whimpered. "I don't know if my heart can take anymore."

"I must tell you," he insisted. "You must know all if you are to give yourself to me."

It took her all the strength she had to nod at his words but in reality all she wanted to do was scream at him for hiding such things from her until now.

"I thought that caring about the human race was futile. They were irredeemable, violent and cruel. They had turned me into something I abhorred and I could not forgive them for that. I hid myself from them, as many spirits have done and still do to this day. I would not even help the suicidal; though it pained me that they chose to end their lives I did nothing but observe. I was terrified of involving myself again; maybe they would force me to kill again."

"Why was I different?" asked Chihiro, suddenly angry. "Why save me and let others die!" she hissed. She sounded bitter and Haku could not blame her.

"I began to take an interest in human kind again. They started to build large houses on my flood plain. I began to notice how much they had changed. They were primitives no longer and the society they had created for themselves seemed stable most of the time. They also began to pollute me. Nothing I could not handle, a few chemicals and some effluent. I began to watch them closely; these were educated and clever beings I realised, and that made my shame all the greater. After a few decades of just watching, you fell into me. I was presented with a choice; either carry on as I had before or face my past acts and try to atone in some small way. There was something about you that jerked me out of my apathy; what it was I can't say, but it is unique to you.

"I took the form of a dragon to fly you through the water and then the form of a human boy so I would not scare you while we waited for your parents to find you. I'd never taken human form before and found it a pleasing way to exist in the physical world. You were quite talkative and showed no fear of me or showed any reverence. It was brought home to me how grave a thing I had done by killing one of your number. I realised also that the shame I felt at my actions was greater than I had thought. The human form I had taken to appear to you in was that of the boy I had killed. I've worn this human form ever since; it's almost like I can make him live again through me. After you left I became very remorseful but it was 7000 years too late. So when the diggers arrived to fill me in, I welcomed my own destruction. I was most disappointed when I did not die.

"The rest you know; Yubaba found me, distressed and desolate, and I forgot everything apart from you and your name. You were the first human I had had contact with in centuries. When you gave me back my name I had to deal with all the memories I'd quite happily forgotten." He paused, searching her face, gauging her reaction. "I've done little to earn the love of humans, Chihiro and yet here I am at my own mating ceremony about to take one as my own, if she still wants me. I think fate must be laughing at me." He fell silent and his shoulders slumped, finished at last.

Chihiro blinked. Did he expect her to say something? What could she say?

"There, there Haku, so you're a killer, I don't mind."

But she did mind; her beautiful white dragon had hated her kind and murdered a child. She had never, even in his darkest moments, thought him capable of such things. At least he felt remorse; that was a good thing. It would have been much worse if he had rejoiced or worse still shown indifference. He had always been so kind to her, which was one of the things she loved about him; his gentle nature. Even this was thrown into a new light; perhaps he was so tolerant of her because of his guilt and shame. Wanting to make amends with her for past wrongs to human kind as a whole. It made her shudder to think that this human form that she found so attractive was originally that of a boy who died thousands of years before. The thought chilled her to the bone. Had her love for him been built on such shaky foundations? Did she love a person he had conjured for her benefit rather than what he truly was?

"No, of course not!" she told herself. She knew his temperament and his animal side. She understood that he did not have the moral compass she had. She looked at his sad, lonely eyes, full of ancient hurt and confusion. Those eyes were his own, no matter what form he wore and she seriously doubted that the people of stone-age Japan had green highlights in their hair.

"Lady, help me, I still love him." But somehow whether she loved him or not was no longer the issue. His confession had left her in doubt, but not of her own feelings. What was damaged was her, until now, unshakable belief that he loved her. She needed to be sure.

"Are you sure," she said quietly, "that all this," she gestured to the hall with a sweep of her arm, "is not just another way to help you forgive yourself? Are you certain you are not confusing love with a sense of obligation?" He frowned, as if he had not been expecting the question. But he answered her promptly.

"No," he said vehemently.

"How can you be so definite about it? You saved me out of a sense of guilt. It follows that you may make me your mate out of that same guilt."

"I know how I feel," he almost growled. "I know that I can't be without you. You are the mate I was destined to have. I love you with every fibre of my being. I do want to atone for my past but loving you was never part of that. It happened completely unexpectedly and it changed my life and what I saw as my place in the world." He took her hand, relieved that she did not pull away from him. The cut on her hand had stopped bleeding but it was still red and sore. She looked utterly confused and seemed to be waging some sort of inner war with herself. He wanted to help her and if that meant letting her go then so be it.

"You can leave now if you wish. The dishonour will be mine, not yours. You don't have to ever see me again if that is what you want."

"Don't be so melodramatic!" snapped Chihiro, irritated. "If you think what you have told me has changed my feelings at all then you don't know me at all and it is you who should leave!"

"You have forgiven me?" his voice sounding thin and squeaky.

"No," she replied; his face fell.

"I love you and want to be with you but I can't forgive you, not until you have forgiven yourself." Haku could not believe what he was hearing.

"But surely what I have told you bothers you!"

"Of course it does, not only have you ripped someone apart but I've been making love to a dead boy. At this precise moment I'm not sure which is worse; I've had you with me all this time and you are wearing the form of someone who you killed and was never allowed to reach adulthood. You said yourself, it's like he is living through you. You've aged him for my benefit... my head is really having problems with this one... on so many levels it is wrong but... My old therapist would have loved to get her claws into you!" Then she shrugged.

"Stranger things have happened to me since I have been here. I'm shocked and angry at you that you have kept all this to yourself but... I still want to be with you... which probably says more about my mental state than it does yours." She squeezed his hand gently.

"I don't know how to forgive myself," he muttered. Chihiro smiled.

"Well you have the rest my life time to figure that out. I'll help you if I can." She sighed and exhaled noisily, her pent up tension relaxing. "Can we get mated now, or is there something else you are burning to tell me?"

"No," he whispered with a slight smile.

"Good because I've heard enough today I think. I'm not sure how I feel about it all yet but give me time..." She frowned for a moment. "Did I ever say thank you?"

"For what?" he asked, completely lost now.

"For rescuing me." He thought back for a moment, holding his head on one side.

"Yes, you did."

"Oh, well I better say it again just to be sure." She stepped forward and softly brushed her lips over his.

"Thank you," she whispered and stepped back.

"You are supposed to do that after the ceremony!" he exclaimed.

"I really could not care less," she declared.

The lady had obviously got the crowd under control because when the silence spell was removed Chihiro could only hear a few hushed whispers.

"I hardly think I need to ask you, Chihiro, but have you decided to proceed?" asked the goddess.

"I have," replied Chihiro. The lady took Chihiro's left hand and Haku's right hand and pressed the two cuts together. Chihiro gasped as pure raw magic shot through her body.

"These two are life mates. They share the same flesh and share the same blood and are of but one mind, now and forever," the lady announced, her throbbing voice filling the temple.

Chihiro felt as if she were on the verge of fainting as wave upon wave of ancient wild magic assaulted her senses. Her Tac'Tal grew hot; her hair sticks rattled in her pocket and Zeniba's band grew cold. Ice shot up her spine and her brow beaded with sweat.

Suddenly it stopped. She trembled as she pulled her hand way from Haku's. On the back of her hand was a scar, a long thin scar that looked years old, except it was gold. It glittered in the light but when she touched it, it felt like normal scar tissue. She saw Haku had an identical mark. It was then she realised she was not alone inside her own skin. He was there, in the back of her mind, a warm loving presence who was feeling a little giddy right now and could hardly believe she had gone through with the ceremony.

"This will take some getting used to," she thought to herself.

"It will, but you'll learn to shield most of your thoughts from me. I understand that it could get very annoying if we always knew what we were thinking."

Chihiro was struck dumb with wonder. She had talked to him without words before but this was different; she did not even have to think her words at him, he knew what she was going to say as soon as she did. She was amazed to discover that the same was true for her also, reading everything that passed through his mind as easily as if the was reading a book. And there was a lot going on, so much information; too much. It was not just him, but his river too. She could not read its thoughts exactly, but she could sense that it was content. Sounds and scents that her dull human senses had never been aware of were now hers to explore but she did not know what to do with all that she was now aware of. She was getting a headache. She pulled back a little, relieved she could quiet down the noise of his mind.

"Well I'm a god, I can't help it if my mind is busy!" he protested.

"We are going to be a wonderfully quiet couple if we always talk like this," she commented.

"It won't always be this way and I think vocal chatter is overrated anyway."

"If you two are quite finished?" snapped the goddess. They both switched their attention back to the world of the physical. Chihiro blushed when a stray, unguarded thought played across her mate's mind as he looked at her.

"Stop it!" she thought at him. He shrugged and told her not to read his mind if she did not want to know what he was thinking.

"Now, Haku, you can kiss your mate, again," the goddess chuckled

The hall erupted with clapping and cheers as Chihiro and Haku reached for each other. But there was a puddle on the floor between them. Haku felt his mate ponder the oddity of it; it looked like water but the dragon's nose told him it was something different. They both turned to look at the Goddess. The lady had her hand on her distended abdomen and her eyes were wide with surprise.

"No!" said Chihiro out loud. "Not now!" The lady grimaced. Chihiro imagined that standing in front of the entire population of the bathhouse with the fluid from her broken waters running down her legs was embarrassing even for her. The lord seemed frozen to the spot. The goddess swallowed.

"What do I do?" she whimpered.

A/N- Just what you need, a Goddess going into labour when you get hitched.


	7. The Rhythm of Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n- mild sexy times. Don't like, skip the last third of this chap.

Chihiro just stared at the distressed deity, then suddenly her brain decided to reassert itself after a prolonged absence. She mentally shoved everything aside mating; Haku; confession; they were all unimportant now. She stepped forward and took the wide-eyed goddess by the elbow.

"We are going to take you to one of the smaller rooms," she soothed, "and try and make you comfortable." The dragon also seemed to have recovered from his shock and took the lady's other arm, helping her waddle from the dais the altar was on and out of a side door. The goddess's mate also seemed to have recovered and Chihiro heard his booming voice ordering everyone back to the bathhouse to enjoy the festivities.

Once in a small antechamber, Chihiro sat the lady in a comfortable chair.

"Thank you," the goddess whispered. "This is unexpected; I thought I had a few years left." She squeezed her violet eyes shut as the first contraction rippled down her stomach. When she caught her breath again she said, "It must have been all that ancient magic that was released with your mating; it's induced me."

Haku slipped out the door to find Zeniba and Chihiro's mother; he did so without her having to even ask him.

"Towels too!" she called out after him, just in case he had not read as much from her mind; she was still in a reasonable state of confusion and her thoughts had a tendency to scatter when she tried to focus.

"What are the towels for?" asked the goddess. Chihiro smiled at her warmly.

"Well, if you are going to have this baby the human way then it can get quite messy."

"Oh," said the goddess. "I had not really thought of the details yet, I thought I had time to..." She sighed and said, "I want a human mother's bond with my son, if that means I have to suffer the embarrassment of going into labour in front of my faithful then so be it."

Chihiro said nothing but gave Haku a mental nudge to hurry back. She had done many things she had never thought she could in the spirit world but she was not sure her skills would extend to midwifery.

"I'm sorry," whispered the goddess.

"For what?"

"For ruining your mating."

"Nonsense," said Chihiro and stepped behind the goddess to braid back her long raven hair to keep it out the way.

"You've ruined nothing; babies keep to their own time. He's probably wanting to join in with the feast!" Chihiro chuckled, trying to lift the lady's spirits. "You of all people should know that when nature calls it shouts." The Goddess smiled weakly and took the human's left hand, resting it on her shoulder and covering it with her own.

"I was worried about you," she said softly. "Whatever he told you it came as quite a blow, I could tell by the look on your face. I thought for a moment that you would walk out on him."

Chihiro sighed heavily.

"I'm not letting off the hook yet," she mumbled. "It was very wrong of him to hide such a thing from me. But what he told me did not change how I felt about him and what he did happened a very long time ago. I think he has made himself suffer about it more than I ever could."

The Goddess nodded then her face twisted in pain; she started to pant as another, slightly stronger contraction gripped her.

"So close together already?" Chihiro mumbled, trying to ignore the fact that the goddess was squeezing her fingers hard enough to crush them.

"It's the magic!" the goddess gasped. "I wanted to give birth in my winter palace," she whimpered.

"Never mind," said Chihiro with false brightness. She freed her fingers and finished the goddess's hair. A few moments after that Zeniba and her mother arrived.

Both of them were carrying thick velvet drapes and silk altar cloths.

"It's the best we could find," panted Yuuko. Chihiro rummaged around the room and found some meditation cushions. She spread them on the floor and covered them with the drapes.

"Very few babies are born into such luxury," said Zeniba cheerfully as they helped the goddess lay down on the cushions. "Let's see how far along we are, with your permission Great Lady."

The goddess nodded, now sweating and obviously in a lot of pain. Chihiro continued to hold the lady's small, delicate hand as Zeniba lifted the Goddess's robes and peered beneath them.

"Oh it won't be long now," she said happily. "Be glad you will have such a short labour; mine was 6 hours."

"Mine was 14," said Yuuko.

"I don't know how you managed," panted the goddess.

"A wonderful thing called an epidural," said Yuuko with a smile. "It's a pity you don't have them here."

"That is hardly helpful, Mum," muttered Chihiro. "And when did you have a baby Zeniba?"

"Oh, I've had two, back when I was still young-looking. I had long blond hair and a waistline," she cackled. "That was just before the bathhouse was built."

The Goddess whimpered with the start of another contraction and then she abandoned any sense of propriety and howled. At the back of her mind, Chihiro could feel Haku wince at the sound, the high pitch hurting his sensitive ears. He was sat in the corridor with the lord, who was pacing up and down.

"Why is your mate not here with you?" asked Chihiro, when the contraction had passed. "Surely you would feel better with him here?"

"Useless idiot," growled the goddess. "I'll never let him touch me again!"

"It's traditional not to have a male in the birthing room," explained Zeniba. Chihiro decided that was one tradition she would break. If she was in labour, she definitely wanted Haku there so she could squeeze his figures to bits and blame all her pain on him. The dragon was amused at this but was mainly preoccupied with the pacing god. The goddess moaned, bringing Chihiro's attention back to her.

Over the next two hours, the goddess panted, wailed and growled her way through her contractions and Chihiro had very little feeling left in her fingers.

"Ah, here we go," said Zeniba finally. "The head is crowning; two good pushes and it will be all over Great Lady." The goddess ground her teeth together and pushed, shaking with the effort.

"That's it; nearly there," said Zeniba soothingly. "You're doing wonderfully my lady, one more push and it's all finished."

"I can't," sobbed the Goddess, tears mingling with the sweat droplets that covered her blue-skinned face. "I'm so tired."

"YOU CAN!" said all three women in unison. The goddesses lip trembled and she buried her face in Chihiro's kimono. Then she screamed with frustration as she put the last of her strength into bringing her son into the world.

"Again!" cried Zeniba.

"You said I only had to push once more!" yelled the deity, accusingly.

"I lied," snapped the witch, "Now put some effort into it; thousands of humans do this every day and you're ready to give up after only a few hours. Stop complaining and PUSH!"

Chihiro squeezed the goddess's hand encouragingly and vowed that she was not going to have children until she had forgotten the majority of all this. Childbirth was disgusting.

The goddess threw back her head and let out a high pitched and eerie scream that hurt Haku's ears terribly, making Chihiro flinch in sympathy. There was a sickening squelching sound and the child slid into the witch's waiting arms, closely followed by the mass of bloody afterbirth. The little boy was delicate and fine-boned like his mother but a rather unappealing grey colour at that moment. Zeniba wrapped him in silks and dealt with the umbilical cord.

"Why isn't he crying?" asked Yuuko, concerned.

"He may not want to," said Zeniba as she brought the child to the goddess's waiting arms. Chihiro looked at the small face peeping from the silks and shuddered. The child's violet eyes were the image of his mother's, but they were not a baby's eyes. These eyes were self-aware and intelligent; he was looking around the room with interest, taking in every detail.

"I'm down here!" snapped the goddess. "I've not just struggled to give birth to you only to be ignored now!"

Violet eyes met violet eyes. Something in the glance the two gave each other made Chihiro very envious and stirred something within her. Suddenly the baby's perfect small lips spread into a toothless, gummy smile. The goddess smiled back, her face radiant.

"This is Chihiro," she whispered throatily as her son's attention wandered again. The Eyes focused on her with cool interest. "She is your auntie," said the goddess gently. Chihiro was struck dumb by the honour; outside Haku fell off his precarious seat on a window ledge, realising what that must mean for him. Chihiro smiled; the dragon was terrified. "And this witch is Zeniba, an old friend of the family." Zeniba bowed to the child when its eyes fixed on her. "And this other human is Yuuko, Chihiro's mother." Yuuko just gaped at the child, seemingly unable to say anything when its searching gaze focused on her.

"And your name, for now, is Kisho, you will probably have many others." The newborn nodded once and Yuuko gave a squeak.

"He really does understand you!" she exclaimed.

"Of course he does," said the Goddess wearily. "He may have been born like a human child, but that was my choice. However, he is far from human; he understands everything we say; in a few months, he will be speaking and walking. How he grows from then is up to him." She shrugged and struggled to sit up but had to be aided by Chihiro. "Hold him a moment while I clean myself up will you dear?" muttered the goddess, who seemed to be growing in strength. She carefully passed her son to Chihiro.

Chihiro cradled the newborn to her. The violet eyes regarded her curiously. His face was now a much better colour, she could see his skin's true tone was a very attractive honey brown.

"Hello," said Chihiro not wanting to be rude. "You kept your mother waiting for a long time." The child pursed its lips as if to say he had not meant to. "Aren't you tired?" asked Chihiro. "I mean you've just been born and it can't have been easy for you." Tiny shoulders shrugged. "I'm really not sure what to say to you," admitted Chihiro. "I've never had a conversation with a 5-minute old baby before." He smiled and tilted his head as if to say he had never spoken to a human before either.

With a small amount of magic, the goddess was cleaning her robes and disposing of the soiled cushions and drapes, but Chihiro hardly noticed. The child freed an arm and tiny fingers touched her cheek. The infant ran a hand over her lips and down her neck, wondering at its first touch of warm skin. His hand hovered over her Tac'Tal, which rested just below her breastbone. One dark eyebrow quirked up, obviously an enquiry.

"My mate gave this to me," Chihiro said. The child did not seem satisfied with her explanation and frowned. "He is in the corridor with your father," she said hurriedly. Then a thought struck her. "We should probably introduce you to your Daddy!" she exclaimed. "I'm sure he's longing to meet you." The child nodded solemnly. "Shall I take him to your mate, lady?" Chihiro asked politely.

"Oh yes!" laughed the goddess. "I forgot about him. I'll be up and about in a moment then we can all go home; go away and let me get finished you two, shoo!" Chihiro stood, ensuring the child was held safely against her. One small fist clung to a lock of her hair as if he was worried he would be dropped.

"It's alright, I've got you," Chihiro cooed. Yuuko opened the door for her and they both stepped into the hallway. The god of the spirits was leaning against a wall; Haku was perched back in the windowsill. She ignored him for a moment; she had a duty to do first. The lord looked worried and dishevelled; there were dark circles under his eyes and his robes were rumpled and creased. Chihiro approached him carefully and presented him with the silk-wrapped bundle in her arms.

"Your son, my lord," she said softly. Gingerly, the god lifted the infant from her arms. He seemed unsure how to hold the child and Chihiro helped him position his large hands so they supported the baby's head.

"Hello," said the God gruffly. "I'm your father." Then to Chihiro's complete amazement, he burst into tears.

"Isn't he perfect?" he sobbed.

"Yes," replied Chihiro, trying not to chuckle at the bemused look on the child's face. "All babies are"

"Ours, especially," said the goddesses voice. She shuffled into the hallway. She still had a large stomach but apart from that she hardly looked like she had just given birth. Her robes and hair were perfect once more; she was not even flushed. She slipped an arm around her mate and smiled at him.

"Thank you, all of you," she said with a sigh and gestured for them to step forward. Haku and the three women did as she bid. She turned to Haku who was looking almost as fresh as she was despite the trials of his mating mere hours before.

"Dragon, as your human is an auntie I guess that makes you an uncle." The dragon bowed, saying nothing. Chihiro saw his thoughts clearly, however; he was unsure he wanted such a position of responsibility or whether he even deserved it. He and the child looked at each other and Chihiro felt his emotions shift and his natural protective instincts rising to the surface. Chihiro smiled to herself; he would make a good father when the time came but she had no illusions over who was going to have to instil discipline into any offspring they had. The dragon would be truly hopeless in that department. Chihiro snapped her attention back to the goddess as she began to speak.

"... and I don't know how I will repay you all for your kind help. I'll think of a way eventually but for now, I am in all of your debt. We must be taking our leave now and you all still have a celebration to attend."

And without another word, the new family faded away to nothing.

Chihiro took a deep breath and felt the tiredness hit her like a sledgehammer. She felt completely mentally and physically drained from the day's events. Strong arms wound around her middle. She jumped, for a moment remembering where those arms had come from. She scolded herself, feeling her mate's hurt in her mind and she forced herself to relax leaning back into his chest. After a moment her anxiety faded, and she sighed with contentment. Zeniba took that moment to take Chihiro's mother by the arm.

"Let's go and find your husband and leave the young ones to themselves." Yuuko nodded and they strolled away up the corridor.

Haku turned Chihiro around slowly, making his movements very deliberate so not to startle her. He could feel her distress and tiredness and had no intention of adding to it. However, she was his mate now and he had no intention of keeping his hands off her either. He distanced himself as much as possible from her thoughts knowing she was still uncomfortable with this new intimacy. She would learn to adapt to it but at that moment she was overwrought and needed space. He understood but he did not have to like it. She faced him, her dark eyes unsure. She was not as perfectly turned out as she had been a few hours ago but she was still ravishing. A few of her scales had fallen from her cheeks, making her look as if she was about to start shedding. He gave her a warm smile and gently brushed the scales from her face. She smiled back at him weakly. He sighed inwardly; he really would have to take the gentle approach if he ever wanted to touch her without her shuddering.

He realised that he had essentially betrayed her trust, but not intentionally and that was why she had gone ahead with things. He could not help what he was and how could he have known things would ever go this far between them? It was only after his proposal that he had realised that he was going to have to be a little more open with her but he had never seemed to find the right moment to tell her of his past. In the end, he had ignored things until it was too late and he was standing before her confessing to murder. Well, things would be a little different from now on, but for the moment she was in his arms and he had to show her that she had been missed. He pulled her a little closer and she tentatively rested her cheek against his chest.

"I've not held you in nearly three days," he said softly into her hair. "I thought I would go slightly insane if I did not have you in my arms again by the end of the ceremony. I don't honestly know what I would have done if you had..." he trailed off as she nuzzled into his neck.

"I thought about it," she whispered. "Then I realised that it did not matter what you had done or what form you took. I love you and that means all of you, even the animal in you." She smiled against his neck. "If that means I'm a necrophiliac then so be it." Haku knew she was teasing him somehow but the joke was beyond him, he would ask Linca when he had a chance, or maybe it would be better not to know.

"I know you only love me for my money," he replied glibly. He felt her smile again then she raised her head and looked up at him, her face serious.

"This will take some getting used to, Haku; not just what you told me but everything." She tapped her forehead with her index finger. "I've never had someone in my head before and while it is nice to be close to you it's... well... strange." He nodded; understanding, and reluctantly slipped his arms from around her. She frowned.

"I must be harder to read than I thought. What are you doing?"

"I'm trying my best not to read your very noisy human thoughts and giving you a bit of space, like you asked."

Chihiro laughed at the confused looking dragon and felt herself warm towards him.

"I was asking you to go slow, Haku but that is positively glacial." She took his hands and firmly placed them on her back then she rose onto her toes and kissed him tenderly. The dragon felt a flood of relief and returned her kiss just as gently, stealing her breath. She broke away from him abruptly and yawned into his kosode. It was his turn to chuckle.

"This is supposed to be the most romantic night of our lives and you're exhausted."

"Sorry," she mumbled, "it's been a long day." She rested her head under his chin. She felt the pulse in his throat beating slowly and she let her eyes slide shut.

A wave of magic washed over her, making her gasp and cling to her mate. When she opened her eyes her surroundings were very different. She was standing on sparkling black stone studded with quartz, with walls and ceiling carved from the same stone. Soft green light seeped into the room through crystal windows and a sturdy hardwood bed dominated the room. It was huge, the biggest bed she had ever seen. The covers were cream satin and the finest woollen blankets lay over them to shield the bed's occupants from the chill of a cavern in winter. The fireplace at the end of the room roared into life, sending shadows flickering across the room.

"Do you like it?" Haku murmured in her ear. "There is another one just like it back at the bathhouse."

"I think I'll get lost in it," Chihiro smirked. Then she frowned. "But what about the festival? All those people are expecting us to..."

"Do you really want to go?" he interrupted. "You were hardly enthusiastic about it before and now you are hardly in a frame of mind to deal with the gossips and the sycophants. Besides, the feast will be well finished by now and the ball in full swing."

"Well... if you put it like that..." She really had not been looking forward to the throng of people she would have to socialise with after the ceremony. The lady and Haku had given her the perfect excuse not to go. She was human and so got tired easily. Haku, now being her mate, had wanted to care for her properly and whisked her away from everyone. Well, it would not convince her family but it had enough truth in it for everyone else to swallow. So she had managed to wiggle her way out of the party; that was great, but she had one regret. She would miss having the opportunity to dance with her beautiful white dragon.

Picking up on her thoughts he said, "Why not dance with me now?

"What? Here?" she scoffed. "In your bedroom?"

"It's **our** bedroom now, and why not?" Chihiro blinked and looked up into his enchanting green eyes; there was a playfulness there but also something much more serious. There was also a smug smirk on his sinful lips that practically dared her to accept his challenge.

"But there is no music!" she protested.

"Silly human," he whispered. "Your senses are no longer as limited as they once were." He tilted his head toward her and his sweet breath caressed her cheek. "Close your eyes and simply listen and you will hear what I hear." She frowned at him. It was true she had been aware of more since the ceremony, but she thought that was her receiving the information from him and not her own senses. His smile broadened. "Believe what I say little one, just listen."

He let his fingers trail gently over her eyelids, making her close her eyes. She sighed and let her mind grow quiet. She did not strain her hearing, instead, she simply let the sounds around her seep into her and little by little the cavern began to sing to her. Water was dripping from the roof of the cave into the lake below, setting a slow steady rhythm. The far off waterfall that emptied into the hot spring provided a barely audible counterpoint and the lake water itself sighed and whispered against its black beaches. The smile that slowly spread across Chihiro's face was angelic. Pure joy rushed through her at this discovery. The spirit world would perhaps be a little less of mystery to her now. Haku took her hands and rested them on his shoulders, then he slipped his arms slowly around her waist, not wanting to break her concentration by surprising her.

"Dance with me, Chihiro," he whispered huskily.

Chihiro did not refuse him; she could not; the river whispered to her and her feet started to move. They twisted and turned slowly in perfect time with the cavern's music. Gracefully they span in each other's arms. Finally, Chihiro opened her eyes and looked up into her mate's face. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt her steps falter slightly as she lost herself in their emerald depths.

_Turn, twist, spin._

He leant forward and caught her lips with his, slowly and deliberately kissing her. His mouth coaxing hers until her lips parted and his tongue slipped wickedly into her mouth. Her fingers buried themselves into the black silk of his kosode. She wanted to feel skin rather than the fabric. Haku's fingers moved of their own accord to her obi and started to loosen it. They kept dancing.

_Twist, spin, turn._

She slipped her fingers beneath his kosode, slid the garment over his shoulders and it fell to the floor silently. Her obi soon joined it and her kimono swiftly followed. It was a relief to get rid of the constrictive clothing and their eyes and hands wandered over each other. Haku kissed his way down Chihiro's neck making, her shudder when his teeth grazed her skin. He smiled against her neck at her reaction and growled slightly.

"Behave yourself," she murmured into his chest.

"Really?" he mumbled as he pulled at her hair, deftly removing pins and ornaments and letting them clatter to the floor.

"No, not really," she sighed. He grinned and slipped the straps of her vest top over her shoulders and kissed them as he did so. He loosened the laces on his haori but he did not remove them. Chihiro read the message easily in his thoughts. Things did not have to go any further this night if she did not wish it; they could finish their dance and go to bed or she could finish undressing him. The choice was hers and Chihiro thought it showed great restraint on his part. Her bond with him told her that his body was practically aching for her, so much so that she could practically hear the throb of his quickening pulse.

He felt her make up her mind.

"Touch me," he begged in a whisper and he shuddered as she ran her hand down the perfect skin of his chest.

_Spin, turn, twist._

Her fingers curled into the top of his haori and she pulled them off quickly. She giggled as she had to help him step from them but he pressed a finger to her lips to silence her. She slipped her vest over her head and he helped her rid herself of the rest of her ridiculous underwear. They kept dancing; their bodies pressed against each other, feeling every movement, every breath, and every heartbeat. Suddenly they stopped dancing. They both stood still clasped close to each other breathing hard. Finally, Chihiro let her tongue trace a line up the dragon's neck and she nibbled his ear lobe.

"I want you," she breathed hotly against the shell of his ear. That was all he needed to know. He gently pushed his mate onto the bed and covered her body with his own and they started a much older, more primitive dance.

XXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got my first donation on https://ko-fi.com/velfman whoever you were, thank you so much!
> 
> I can't believe how many people are reading my stories. AO3 is such a massive platform, I really thought I would be lost in the crowd. To all of you, every single reader, kudos leaver and commenter- thank you.


	8. Bloodlust

Chihiro sighed happily; she was ankle-deep in lake water. It was cool but not cold and gave her a pleasant chill between her toes. The lake water gurgled contentedly with the contact, sending playful eddies spinning between her feet. Haku was still asleep; she could feel his slumbering but warm presence at the back of her mind. The Nygel standing beside the human female was as happy to have her attention as the water was. Chihiro was rhythmically pulling a fine-toothed comb through his thick coat, removing the parasites that plagued him so. As usual, the mischievous horse spirit was in a chatty mood.

"Do you feel any different being _officially_ Mistress Chihiro now?" he whickered.

"Not really," she replied dreamily. "I'm just glad it's all over. The bond between us has taken a few days to get used to, but now we are not continually aware of each other's thoughts, it's much easier to live with. Haku respects the privacy of my mind and I his."

"So, no new airs and graces then? You have effectively just elevated yourself by mating one of the most powerful on the plain."

Chihiro laughed. "I wish everyone would stop telling him that he is so powerful; his ego is big enough as it is."

The Nygel snorted, velvet nostrils quivering. Then he closed his adorable brown eyes and luxuriated in the grooming he was getting, head dropping a little. Chihiro continued to comb his bay coat and had moved onto his fair mane she reflected that this was not really any normal colouring for a horse. The combination of light and dark was unusual, especially when combined with his white socks and flash. But he still looked horsy enough to pass as a normal horse. If he had been bright blue he would have found it much harder to blend in.

"So when can I teach your children how to ride?" he whinnied suddenly, obviously excited by the idea. His head came up so quickly he struck Chihiro under the chin, making her teeth clack together painfully.

"Owww!"

"Sorry," mumbled the water horse. Chihiro frowned at the spirit while rubbing her jaw.

"I don't think I'll be letting my children ride you, Nygel," she hissed between her aching teeth. "I don't mean to offend you but they will have baths aplenty without you dunking them in the lake."

"You think I would do such a thing!" whinnied the Nygel in protest. His forelegs plunged in the water a little as if he wanted to rear back; he splashed lake water all over his human companion.

"Yes. I don't think you would be able to help yourself." The Nygel laid his ears flat against his head bared his teeth at the human.

"Don't get all moralistic on me now!" chuckled Chihiro, tapping his shoulder with the comb. The angry spirit did not intimidate her, Haku would gut him if he even grazed her skin, and the river was already growing restless around her feet. The Nygel would certainly be able to feel the warning in the water.

"I would never treat you or your children in such a way," he managed to nicker from behind his clenched teeth. He tossed his head again and fixed her with his most adorable and appealing stare. "Ride me now; get on my back and see if I don't keep my word!" Chihiro felt her heart pulled towards the spirit, but she was used to him by now and could ignore the urge to swing up onto his back, wrap that fair mane in her hands and tear around the lake at a gallop.

"I'd rather not," she said firmly. "I've told you before that I can't ride well and I would not want to tempt you in such a way." She sighed as the spirit snorted at her and tossed his head; even going so far as to stick out his bottom lip like a petulant child. "Besides," she continued, "there will be no children for a while yet. I have an infertility spell on me; when it wears off, maybe we'll think about starting a family, but we both have too much to do right now."

"I see," said the water horse stiffly, flicking his fair tail dismissively. Chihiro stepped back and admired her handiwork. The Nygel's bay coat gleamed and his almost blond mane and tail were weed-free and untangled. He trotted out of the water and up the black sand beach. Without a word he pawed at the sand several times and then rolled over in the little hollow he had made, kicking his legs in the air and snorting defiantly. When he stood again his coat was plastered with black sand and his mane and tail more closely resembled rat's nests, the coarse strands knotted and matted.

Chihiro stared open-mouthed at the spirit.

"Why, you nasty little LEACH!" she cried when she finally found her voice. The water horse whinnied a taunting laugh and bared his teeth at her again; this time Chihiro knew he was grinning at her. Revenge complete, the horse cantered to the shoreline and jumped gracefully into the dark lake water without making a splash.

"Is this all because I won't ride you?" Chihiro shouted over the mirror-like lake water. There was no response; not so much as a bubble broke the water's surface.

"Fine! Be like that!" she yelled. "But don't come crying to me when you're so itchy you can't even swim!" She grasped the comb and threw it into the lake after him. "Let's see you use _that_ without any fingers! I hope you go bald from mange!" she ranted.

"Is all this really necessary?" drawled Haku's satin-smooth voice. "As pretty as you are when you're angry, you are making quite a spectacle of yourself." Chihiro turned around so fast she nearly lost her footing and the lake had to support her until she regained her balance. Her life mate was sitting on a black boulder, torso unclothed. In fact the only thing he seemed to be wearing was a pair of black, exceptionally tight breeches. Chihiro's angry retort died on her lips. He smirked, sensing the swing in her emotions.

"Aren't those...?" she trailed off.

"I believe you called them "pornographically tight," when you were rummaging through my wardrobe. You always complain I don't wear half the clothes I own," he said innocently. He jumped down from the bolder and pirouetted gracefully for her to inspect him, giving her an uninterrupted view of his well-muscled legs and rump. "Does madam approve?" he asked lightly, turning to face her again. Chihiro managed to mentally kick herself and prevent the denizens of Haku's river the pleasure of seeing her drool at her mate's feet.

"They are nice," she commented blandly. He raised one dark eyebrow.

"Just nice?" He was obviously very aware of the effect he was having on her.

"Alright, they are very nice but I think you should consider restricting yourself to your river when you are dressed like that. If you went around dressed like that at the bathhouse, the yunnas may try to rape you." He chuckled and walked towards her; the water gurgled as he stepped into it, sighing with contentment at the contact with the physical part of itself. He took her hands, kneading them gently with his fingers until they relaxed in his own.

"_Come back to the house,"_ his voice purred in her mind. _"The Nygel is obviously unworthy of your attention. That means you can lavish all the more on me."_ He pulled at her left hand and started to stroll slowly up the beach. She tottered after him feeling a little dazed.

"_We've hardly left the house in three days, Haku,"_ she commented.

"_Is that a complaint?"_ His voice echoed softly around her mind sending a shiver of ice up her spine.

"_No,"_ she replied, _"merely an observation."_

"_Good." _He started up the steep cliff steps and Chihiro could not help her eyes dropping to his black fabric clad legs.

"How did you get those things on?" she wondered out loud.

"It's a closely guarded secret," he replied. "But if you are a very good girl I'll show you how to take them off."

Haku sensed his mate's flaming blush even though he had his back to her. It was appealing to him that he could still make her blush; after all, she was hardly innocent anymore. Well, on a certain level she was, but that was just the way she was. His little human would probably always be a little naive and innocent and it was a quality he cherished in her. Her thinking was becoming more and more unguarded as her embarrassment heightened. She was contemplating on how apt Linca's description of him was_. "Sex on legs,"_ the sprite had called him. Haku grinned wolfishly; he was pleased his mate thought he was living up to that particular description of himself.

Eventually, the time came to return. Chihiro felt as if she had only barely begun to relax after four days away but they both had things to do back at the bathhouse. On her return, as she predicted, her sisters and parents were slightly put out by her "ditching" them as Linca so eloquently put it. However, they seemed to understand that she had needed to get away for a short while after everything she had been through.

Her parents returned home two days after her return, seemingly happy with her situation. She still thought the relationship between her father and her mate would always be a little strained but the two of them were at least civil in each others company.

Chihiro's life settled into a contented rhythm. She rose early, but not intolerably so. Haku made her coffee while she took a shower, installed at her request. In fact she had redecorated the whole apartment, making it much more homely or "cluttered" as her mate put it. They breakfasted together while discussing the days' work ahead of them, after that going their separate ways; him to perform the morning inspection while the guests slept, her to her new office two floors down where she pawed over accounts and orders, with Meeka providing tea at 11am sharp. Depending who got to her first she either had lunch with her mate or her sisters, On rare occasions she would get them all to eat together, but that usually resulted in Haku having his buttons pushed by her merciless sisters and Chihiro having to kick him under the table to remind him that he had to grin and bear it. The two seemed totally impervious to the murderous looks he gave them, and Chihiro usually left the table with burning indigestion. Still, they would never learn unless she kept trying, even if she ended up with an ulcer as a result. They could all get along when they wished to and Chihiro suspected that all three actually enjoyed being so unpleasant to each other.

After lunch she returned to her airy office for a couple more hours, usually, Rin would drag her out at some point either to her own office for a cup of tea and sisterly chat or a defence lesson. After that, her time was her own and she would read, wander through the baths as they started getting busy, taking time to chat to the regular customers, or she would head for Haku's office and help him out with his ever-mounting pile of paperwork. She was getting very good at forging his signature. Dinner was usually reserved just for her and her mate, though sometimes they were joined by Zeniba's household, who visited regularly. Bedtime varied but she always found herself smiling when she closed her eyes, content and happy.

Weeks passed, one melting into another with ease. She and Haku went to the river for a few days. She saw nothing of the Nygel, though there were hoof prints in the dirt outside the house one morning. Haku had been a little angry but Chihiro told him to let the spirit be; he owed her an apology and would work up the courage to speak to her in time. Linca took a minor water spirit as a lover and ended the relationship two weeks later even though he clearly worshiped the ground she walked on.

When Chihiro asked for an explanation, the sprite shrugged her delicate shoulders and said, "He is not what I need."

Rin started dragging Chihiro out of her office for lessons three times a week. She started to work with the weapon that Rin had given her as a troth plight present. Chihiro cut and nicked herself so many times over the first few lessons that she and Haku fell into a blazing row over her continuing. Eventually, she won the argument by pointing out that he may not always be able to protect her and she needed to be able to defend herself or be at another's mercy. Magic was not too much of a problem with the amount of talismans she carried. Her hair stick and tac'tal were full of protective magic; even her mating scar was sealed with strong protective magic. Violence, however, she had no defence against if he was not there. He had capitulated and a few well-placed kisses smoothed the situation over nicely.

One morning, two months after her mating, Chihiro awoke to see sunlight peeking through the curtains. The beam of light beckoned her towards the window. She rose and peered outside. Every trace of frost and snow was gone from the plain; it was now a brownish greyish marsh with only the slightest traces of green. She opened the casement and took deep breaths of the chill morning air. It was sharp and tickled the back of her throat but it seemed to have an earthy undertone, like leaf loam.

"Oh no," she heard Haku's muffled voice groan from the bed; the dragon had burrowed under the pillows and had his arms wrapped over the top of them, holding them down over his face.

"_Very regal"_ thought Chihiro to herself as a smile touched her lips. Sometimes he did not act like a river god at all. She could almost mistake him for a human; almost.

"What's the matter?" she asked, unable to keep a chuckle from her voice.

"S'nigh" said the pillow. Chihiro crawled up the bed and knelt near his shoulder. She whipped the pillow away revealing a pair of very sleepy green eyes and mussed greenish hair.

"Would you mind repeating that? I'm not allowed to read your mind, remember?"

"Spring," he muttered as if disgusted.

"What's so bad about spring?" she asked. He sighed at her ignorance and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the heels of his hands. He looked up at her slightly less blearily.

"It's the mating season this year; remember we spirits conveniently have a breeding season every two years."

"Ah," was all Chihiro could think to say.

"You'll be unaffected," he yawned, "being human, and I've always been able to ignore the madness. Besides I have you to take the edge off this year." He grinned at her, sharp teeth flashing at her. Chihiro could not help giggling girlishly and batted his hand away playfully as it started to run up her thigh. He pulled a face at her.

"You're no fun!" he complained and turned away from her in mock sulk.

"If you can elevate your mind from the gutter for 5 minutes, Haku; hard I know when you share a bed with a Goddess like me every night; but would you mind getting to the point?"

"You'll see," he grumbled. "It will be mayhem here for the next three months and it will be difficult to get anyone to do anything." Then his shoulders hunched and he swore as if remembering something. He turning back around and treated her to his best impersonation of puppy dog eyes. He never quite managed to pull it off, however; his eyes were more saurian than mammalian and his gaze too intense for the required level of softness. It always made her laugh and she was chuckling when he spoke.

"You would not spend the next three months with my river, would you? Please!" She shook her head, still chuckling.

"Thought not," he sighed. "Well, just make sure you have those hair sticks on you at all times; carrying that dagger around may not be a bad idea either."

"It can't get that bad surely!" Chihiro laughed. The look Haku gave her clearly said she was wrong. Then he smiled.

"I'm sure all will be well when I remind certain individuals that if they even look at you in a way I dislike then I'll turn them to pigs and eat them for breakfast. Or maybe I'll just rip their throats out, I have not decided yet." Chihiro rolled her eyes and slipped back under the covers. As she settled down she remembered something.

"Aren't you glad I carried on with my defence lessons," she taunted. "Looks like they may come in useful. When are you going to learn that your mate is always right?"

By way of an answer, she got a face full of pillow.

She found out quite quickly that Haku had not been exaggerating; every word he said was true.

It was in Linca she first noticed the change. The normally reliable spirit started showing up late for work. She received a few tongue lashings from Rin but it seemed to have little effect on her performance; she seemed constantly tired and listless. Chihiro thought that she may be ill, but then she passed her in a corridor one evening. The sprite was wrapped around the very same water spirit she had dumped over a month ago. Two days later, Chihiro saw her sitting on the lap of a very handsome fire spirit, giggling like a teenager. Chihiro had long ago stopped trying to talk Linca out of her fickle ways. She just did not seem to comprehend that being so reckless with others hearts was cruel; she always went into these relationships with no intention of anything serious, but more often or not the spirit she was with fell for her. Chihiro could see why; her sister was a petite, delicate beauty with the heart of a tiger and a large appetite for life, among other things. Chihiro did not love her any less for her behaviour but she did worry about her.

The yunnas soon followed Linca's example and the night shifts became increasingly understaffed. Rin seemed incapable of maintaining order, and showed signs of growing discomfort as the season progressed, speaking only in monosyllables when she spoke at all, and spending long hours in her room. Chihiro guessed the spirit was intolerably lonely, but unlike Linca she would not give in to the season and pair up with someone. Chihiro was one of the few people she would see, and the human kept her sister supplied with chocolate and wine, the only things that seemed to relieve her pent up tension. Chihiro hoped that perhaps the stress would lead to more of Rin's memories being recovered. But the spirit suffered on with no new insights. Zeniba was called in to help with the administration side of things and Chihiro found herself taking on more and more hours to cover for those suffering the "sickness" that was running at epidemic proportions. She helped clients bathe; there were many of them this time of year, replenishing themselves after the winter. She played foreman; she cooked food and washed dishes; scrubbed floors and cleaned toilets. But that was the least of her troubles.

As Haku predicted, she started to receive unwanted attention from some male workers. Some of it was unwanted but harmless.

"Oh that bucket is far too heavy for you, Mistress Chihiro, let me help!" (Hands caressed as the bucket was taken from her.)

"Oh could you get that token for me please, the on the top shelf?" (Long look gained of bare legs as she stretched to get it.)

"I think your saddle strap has snapped mistress. No? Oh my mistake!" (Making her top gape open; showing more flesh than she would have liked as she bent to check.)

She did not mind these childish attempts so much and a sharp look would usually send the offender into retreat. But as the season progressed some started to leer at her and on one occasion she was propositioned. She found it amusing at first, chuckling over the antics of these males and indeed some females. She told Haku everything of course; the dragon was less amused and began mentally checking up on her about ten times a day.

She allowed him this; it did not inconvenience her too much. Besides he had his own pack of yunnas following him around, making passes at him, something which annoyed him greatly. He was worried she would get jealous, but what did she have to be jealous about? He was her mate.

For all his high minded assertions that he was largely unaffected by the breeding season, Chihiro found that he had been stretching the truth considerably. His appetite for her grew, as did his possessiveness. When she was near him he always seemed to need to have a hand on her shoulder or an arm around her, as if he could dispel wondering eyes merely by having contact with her. Two air spirits wound up in the pigpen for a week and were fed the most rank kitchen rubbish available. Their crime was admiring the dragon's mate within his sensitive hearing. When Chihiro found out, she mentally pinpointed where he was skulking and resolved to find him while her rage was still good and hot, despite her huge workload. He had been patrolling the less used corridors, looking for workers who may be conducting liaisons on company time; it was a futile task with the bathhouse being so vast, but he had got a few results through this method.

"Haku!" she yelled at his retreating form while trying breathlessly to catch up with him. She saw his shoulders hunched as her raised voice hurt his ears. She felt him mentally sigh and he turned to face her.

Haku was determined to keep a tight rein on his temper, which had been bubbling steadily for weeks. His nerves were shot to pieces and he had done his best to hide his emotional state from her. She had enough to do without having to attend to him. She was disappointed in him, he could feel it, but it only seemed to irritate him further rather than chastise him. He smiled at her angry face warmly, hoping to defuse the situation. It did not work.

She stalked up to him and stood before him, arms folded.

"Well?" she demanded, voice still far too high for his liking. "What have you got to say for yourself?"

"Nothing," he replied blandly, trying not to bristle at her tone.

"Nothing?" she echoed, her voice dripping with scorn. It was a little like rubbing lemon juice into a paper cut; his nerves jangled and his pride smarted.

"That's right," he replied firmly. "I was well within my rights to do what I did. They were not harmed and next time the experience may teach them to think with their brains rather than their libidos. They insulted both you and myself. They will not be in pig form long and the only long term effect will be the stomach ache from the kitchen rubbish they consume."

If anything, this seemed to annoy his mate further; her brown eyes hardened. What had he said to upset her now? Surely he had reasoned things out for her? What could the contrary female possibly find to object to? He was tempted to break the fragile walls she had built around her thoughts and sidestep the looming argument by reading her mind. But he did not; he had given his word and no matter how convenient it would be, he had to respect the pact between them.

"So you think that someone commenting on my legs justifies a spell in the pigpen?"

"It was a derogatory comment Chihiro, I believe the exact words were, "What a shapely pair of pins; I would not mind having those wrapped around me even if she is a stinking human." I heard it and passed sentence."

"Oh yes, I forgot. You still have to play the mighty river God! Why couldn't you dock their pay? Put them on back-to-back shifts for a week? Reduce their privileges? Or are those things too mundane and sensible?"

Haku's head throbbed; why couldn't she see things his way? He knew he should walk away, just walk away. Go for a fly or a swim to cool off and let her stew until she saw that she was being unreasonable. However, his feet seemed to refuse to move; an increasing part of him really wanted to lose his temper; it would feel so good just to let the hot roiling emotions free and heat his blood. Of course, he would have little control over what he did after that, his rational side pointed out, but oh, it would feel so good. He stayed put.

"I did what I did for your protection, and I will do it again if the need arises." Chihiro threw up her hands in exasperation.

"You're impossible!" she cried. "You may as well tattoo "HAKU'S" on my forehead and have done with it! I am not your possession, dragon, and I don't need you protect me in such a manner!"

Haku felt his mood swing so violently that he nearly blacked out; he moved from hot bubbling anger to cold, chilling malevolence in two seconds. Who did she think she was talking to? She had no right to speak to him so when he was only acting with her best interests at heart. A small and rapidly disappearing corner of his mind knew he was not himself and clamoured for him to admit that the season and the stresses of his position were getting to him. He ignored it; it was so much easier to toy with his mate. He fixed her with a glittering stare and smiled coldly.

"But you _are_ mine," he whispered to her silkily. "Mine forever, or had you forgotten that?"

She did not heed the warning in his tone. She stared back defiantly at him, her self-righteous anger carrying her forward.

"Well, sometimes I have trouble remembering when you treat me more like a fragile pet than a woman!"

Something in the dragon snapped.

He felt his body move before he even thought about it. Chihiro gave a strangled squeak as he pressed her back against the wall of the corridor, pinning her there with his weight. Chihiro could not move; she could hardly breathe. His eyes sparkled with chilly emerald anger and she felt a growl rumble through his chest. She had not seen him this angry in quite some time. She realised that all the signs to his unstable frame of mind were there, all she had to do was look. But she had been so busy, and consequently so tired, she had not bothered to think that he may be suffering in some way, and Haku being Haku, he had hidden it well. She cursed herself; she had been almost treating him like a human. However, he was much more wonderful and much more high maintenance than any human man could be. She would have to think fast to find a way to placate him or he may do something stupid and hate himself afterwards. He bared his teeth in a feral grin and she felt a shiver of fear tremble up her spine.

She should not have worried so. Haku's nostrils flared on picking up her spiky nervous scent. It made him aware that he was frightening her and while the scent tantalised him, it also gentled him. He tilted his face to her neck and instead of biting her as he originally intended, he kissed her softly, feeling her rapid pulse beneath his lips.

"I'm sorry," he whispered between ever more frantic kisses. "I really have no control of my temper right now." He kissed her cheeks chin and forehead in rapid succession. "It's this damn mating season. I could always ignore it before, but now I have you and... well, my body screams for... things I can't ask of you." He felt Chihiro relax beneath him. He kissed her lips desperately. "I don't want to hurt you... but I really need to..." Small hands took his face and gently pushed his head back so he was looking directly into a pair of very serious brown eyes.

"_What exactly do you need from me, Haku?"_ she asked, her calm words slipping easily into his mind. _"I want to help you; you are obviously suffering from the lack of something. Let me help you."_

"_I can't ask you to do this..." _he replied, _"It would not be right."_ To Chihiro's complete surprise he blushed.

"_Do I have to guess?"_ she asked, trying to stay serious but her lips held the ghost of a smile.

"_I'd rather you didn't." _She could feel his toe-curling embarrassment quite distinctly and that gave her the clue she needed.

"_If I had to place money on it, I would say it has something to do with blood."_ He was taken aback that she had guessed correctly. _"I've been doing a little bit of homework on your kind, dragon. I know that at this time, if you had a mate of your own species, there would be biting and exchange of a reasonable amount of blood and then you would mate. The ritual is repeated on a daily basis until the female conceives. That's the way you are designed to work."_ She kissed his cheek. _"It's nothing to be ashamed of; I think I can stand to lose a little blood every two years. I'm human but I don't expect you to act like one too, that would be unrealistic." _She stroked his hair and he nuzzled into her neck again as if to hide his still scarlet face. She took his hand and kissed it and suddenly she was all business.

"So how do we go about this then?" she asked out loud, making him look up. "Should I cut my finger for you or do you need more than that? Am I going to have to open a vein for you?" He looked at her in wonder.

"You're serious aren't you?"

"Of course I am; you need my blood so I will provide. I can lose a pint with no danger; I'm young and healthy..."

"I won't need that much," he interrupted gently. "And you won't need to cut yourself." He pulled back his lips in a grimace, showing her his sharp canines. "These are not just for tearing meat off the bone; it would be a lot less painful for you if we did this the traditional way."

"And a lot more pleasurable for you I suppose." She chuckled but stopped when she saw another blush creeping up his neck. This was obviously a subject rarely spoken of among dragon kind.

"I can heal you straight after, I won't even leave a mark."

"You will have other things on your mind rather than healing me, Haku; I remember that last time you got a taste of me!" He smiled at the memory.

"Well," she sighed, taking his hand and pulling him down the corridor. "We best get started. I have one condition however."

"And that is?" enquired her mate.

"That I get to bite back..."


	9. Pestilence

Haku was almost a changed dragon overnight. Chihiro could hardly believe that something so simple could precipitate such a transformation in him. All the stress just seemed to fall from him and after a good 12 hours in bed with his mate and a half-pint of blood, Haku felt completely refreshed. He would never have expected his mate to be so tolerant of his more animal needs; it was called "bloodlust" for a very good reason.

Early next morning, Haku transported the icy meltwater from the plain and dumped it over every single staff member that had not turned up for the morning shift. Strangely there were few absences for the evening shift and only a few had to be persuaded to work the night shift. Haku told Chihiro that if he had been thinking clearly he would have implemented such a motivational policy weeks ago.

As mid-spring approached, the mating season was over its peak and Chihiro began to feel as if she could finally relax. All was going well. Her friends and family were in good health and the effects of the strange season seemed to be lessening. All was peaceful. She should have known it was too good to last.

She awoke one night a few weeks later to feel the chill crackle of magic in the air and her tac'tal was burning her with warning. She sat bolt upright and something light and smooth brushed her cheek. She squeaked, causing her mate to wake. Sensing her distress he cast a light orb above the bed so she could see. When her eyes adjusted to the dim glow she saw a garish orange envelope sitting on her lap. Chihiro's heart froze. Haku had given an enchanted envelope to her parents as a method of contacting their daughter directly in the event of an emergency. They were difficult to make as they had a tendency to disintegrate in a world where magic was almost entirely absent. Chihiro did not know how much power her mate had used to solve the problem but she assumed it was a lot. Haku had told her parents how rare the envelope was and Chihiro had assumed she would never see it again.

"Don't just stare at it," whispered Haku. "Open it." Chihiro swallowed and ran a nail under the gum seal and removed the letter inside. With a pop and a crack, the envelope became orange dust. Chihiro's eyes were greeted by her father's scrawled characters.

Chihiro...

I don't wish to alarm you by sending you this, but I am at a loss for what to do. Your mother is extremely sick and the symptoms she is exhibiting tell me that this is not an illness that any mortal doctor would be able to treat. I don't know what to do. If I take her to a hospital they will surely provide the wrong medicines or worse still, put her in confinement and do nothing. I have listed her symptoms as best I can and I would ask that you show them immediately to some sort of healer or whatever you have for doctors there. Write to me as soon as you have anything. Please, daughter, she is gravely ill and I can't help her or even make her more comfortable.

Chihiro ran her eyes down the list of symptoms; they seemed fairly mundane at first.

Lethargy,

Wheezing cough,

Sweats,

Temperature,

But then there were things like...

A blue glow surrounds her at night,

Black fur has grown on her back,

Bright green rash on her stomach and legs,

A black tongue and lips,

Her breath smells of sour pears.

Chihiro passed the list to Haku who virtually snatched it off her. His green eyes scanned the letter quickly and dispassionately.

"What do I do?" asked Chihiro softly.

"Get dressed" he replied. "Kamaji is off tonight but I'm sure he won't mind being woken up for this."

Kamaji, like Rin, had been exceptionally grumpy during the mating season, throwing himself into his work. He had been almost impossible to work with, but luckily his apprentice, Bee-la, seemed as unaffected by Kamaji's sharp tongue as he was by the mating season. This was probably because Bee-la was a hive spirit and had no mating season; he was a worker and that was all he would ever be or be expected to be. When his hive had been destroyed in a war, the bathhouse was the only place he could think to go. If he did not work then he did not exist. So when Chihiro and Haku burst into the sweltering boiler room, Chihiro babbling almost incoherently and waving a letter before her, the puffball spirit was not fazed at all. He calmly took the letter from the human and disappeared into the storeroom that had been converted into a bedroom for the ancient spirit. There was a buzz, a shout, a clatter, and then the light in the room clicked on. Chihiro could hear Kamaji mumbling to himself, then the spider-like spirit shuffled out of the room and into the boiler room.

"Kamaji, I'm so sorry to wake you," Chihiro gushed. "But this is important; my mother-" Kamaji raised a hand imperiously to stop the flow of chatter.

"Quiet, Sen, I'm thinking!" Chihiro felt Haku bristle beside her at the spirit's tone but he wisely chose to say nothing. Kamaji started rummaging in his chest of drawers with two hands while another hand scratched his head and another neatened his moustache and pushed his opaque glasses further up his nose. He muttered to himself under his breath and Chihiro could only make out a few words even with her improved hearing.

"It could be... mutated sallow-hale...? Husband was not affected... rash and aura... mmmm... blackwater fever... wrong season... Kermes ailment... only magical creatures..." Finally, he located a black leather-bound tome that was a good six inches thick. Chihiro recognised it as the volume he had turned to when she had been suffering from the sallow-hale. He sat resting the book on his lap while getting a pen and paper with two arms another hand flicked threw the yellowed pages of the book. The spirit was a collage of nervous movement. Chihiro sat cross-legged on the floor and Haku followed her example, throwing a comforting arm over her shoulders. Bee-la tended the boiler but managed to get the dragon and the human a cup of camomile tea in a lull. The soot balls had stopped to peer at the couple, but a sharp buzz from the puffball spirit got them moving again. Kamaji was reading in total silence for nearly 45 minutes but finally, he gave a grunt of satisfaction.

"That will be it," he announced.

"What?" trilled Chihiro, clasping her hands before her.

"Spalercum pestilence."

"It can't be," said Haku flatly. "That's a tropical disease and carried by a very rare type of mosquito."

"If you are such an expert, Haku, then why did you ask my opinion?" snapped the irritable spirit. Haku glared at the old spirit but it seemed to have little effect.

"It's the only thing that fits the symptoms, why no one else has got it I don't know but it's treatable. With the right care, Sen's mother should fully recover."

"That's a relief," sighed Chihiro.

"But there is a problem," continued the spirit and he adjusted his dark glasses primly. "The herbs needed to cure her do not grow in the human world." Chihiro's heart sank. "The potion is not easy to make and it must be remade every two days by someone with herbal knowledge. I doubt your father has the skills required to make a bundle bark and starflower decoction." Kamaji turned to Haku. "The bottom line is; do you have the strength to send potion to the human world every 2 days for the next two weeks? Even for you, it would be difficult I think, judging by how tired you get when you send Sen's letters."

Haku sighed. Acknowledging the truth of the spirit's words, he felt his mate's mood plummet to something very close to despair. It almost hurt him physically to feel her so unhappy.

"Is there nothing we can do to help?" asked Chihiro.

There was silence in the boiler room with only the metallic clanking of the boiler mouth opening and closing as it greedily guzzled coal. Finally, Haku's voice broke through the hush.

"All you have to do is pack your things; I'll take care of the rest."

"What?" exclaimed Chihiro in surprise, turning to look at him sharply.

"I said pack your things; you are going to help your mother," said the dragon as calmly as if he was talking about the weather.

"I can't do that!" Chihiro hissed. "I can no more cross the border to the human world than you can. I'm bonded to this world remember? Besides it's closed, the equinox is..."

"Things are different now," interrupted her mate gently. He took her hand and ran his fingers gently over the gold mating scar. "You're bonded to me now and I say you can go. It will take quite a bit of power to protect you from the non-magical human world, but you will not sicken. It will be unpleasant for us both, me most of all probably, but I'd rather expend my energy on guaranteeing your mother's return to health. You've gained enough experience while helping Kamaji out down here to make up that potion and you know how to use it. I could send your father potion every other day but I would weaken more quickly and he may not administer the potion correctly. This is the best way."

"I can't let you do this," Chihiro breathed. "It will drain you the point of exhaustion."

"This is not your decision to make little one," he whispered. "If I am willing, you can have no objection." He touched her face trailing his fingers from her ear lobe to her sharp chin. "Your family will need you, Chihiro. Your mother will be disorientated and frightened and your father will be lost without her."

Chihiro tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "I don't want to go back there. I'm still wanted by the police and I feel like an alien in my own world." And she did not need to add what else was in her heart because her mate could see it in her eyes.

"And I'm afraid."

"This is what must be," he declared. The dragon leant forward and brushed his mate's brow with his lips. "I always knew that your world was not finished with you yet. I knew I'd have to let it claim you at least once more; you are still not at peace with those you have left behind." He squeezed her scarred hand and smiled sadly. "Just make sure you are not incarcerated this time. I'm not sure I can aid you at all in the state I will be in. It will be all I can do to keep body and soul together let alone organise another hospital break out. Zeniba will have to run things for me while I'm indisposed but I'm confident in her skills." He sat up and let go of her hand slowly, almost reluctantly. "I can maintain a protection spell on you and keep a small hole in the border open for three weeks, by that time your mother should be almost recovered."

Chihiro shook her head. "I can't do it, I'll kill you."

Haku kissed her lips softly. "The only difficult part will be your absence; that is the only true hardship I will suffer. Now go and pack, the sooner you leave the sooner you will return." Chihiro's chin wobbled but she nodded, stood and slipped from the boiler room soundlessly.

Haku stood and yawned. "Make up that potion for her, Kamaji, and supply her with everything she needs to make it herself. I'll underwrite the cost of it all." He turned to leave but a gnarled old hand clasped his forearm turning him back to the old spirit.

"I'm sure you know that this is probably something Yubaba has cooked up. There are no other cases, Haku; that has to raise your suspicions." Haku patted the old spirit's hand fondly.

I know as soon as I read that letter that it was probably some scheme she had a hand in old friend. But what can I do? I cannot let Chihiro's parents suffer and do nothing. I'll post a guard and put Rin in charge of security; she has a good head on her shoulders." Kamaji let go of the dragon.

"You should tell her what you suspect, Haku. If anything happens when she is away she will blame herself."

Haku shook his head, his dishevelled dark hair flashing green in the light given off from the boiler fire. "If I tell her she will refuse to go." The dragon picked his way carefully through the busy soot balls and nodded to Bee-la as he passed him. At the door, the dragon turned to Kamaji one last time.

"Besides, if Yubaba is indeed trying to avenge herself on me then perhaps the human world is the best place for Chihiro right now."

Kamaji felt a sinking feeling in his gut as he watched the dragon leave. He would make the potion as promised but first, he would check his supplies. He shuffled over to the panel-covered wall and tapped the corner of one of the panels with his thumb. The panel squeaked open on hidden hinges that had not been used in years. Kamaji felt a little better when he saw row upon row of wax-sealed jars. He carefully removed one and blew the dust off the yellowed label. There, in his own neat handwriting, was written a word that made him feel much better just reading it.

GUNPOWDER

A little further back in the secret cupboard was a crate; Kamaji had paid a lot of his own money to acquire it from a spirit that traded with certain individuals in the human world. He had thought to try and study it to find out how it was made. The stuff had proved far too complex and far too dangerous, however. It had taken him four years to re-grow the hand he lost. He read the label on the crate with a grin.

DYNAMITE

Despite their destructiveness, Kamaji had a grudging respect for the human race. They were inventive people; they had to be not being able to use magic. Kamaji ran through the bathhouse defences in his mind. They had not been needed for some time but the building sitting on a spire of rock was as defensible as any castle. There was also an extensive armoury and most of the staff was trained to use its contents.

"Better be careful, Yubaba," muttered the ancient spirit. "If you come here you will not only find your revenge thwarted but your life in danger of being extinguished."

Akio paced back and forward, agitated and at a loss for what to do. His wife had been hallucinating for the last few days and he had had to lock her in her room twice. He should have tied her to the bed but he just could not bring himself to. So with his wife screaming that he had stolen her daughter and that she would kill him, Akio had written to his daughter. She was her mother's child; she would know what to do. Yuuko was asleep now but it was a fitful uneasy sleep. He still thought taking her to a hospital was a bad idea. Visions of men in white coat flocking around her prone form filled his head.

"Yes, Dr Tanaka, a very interesting case; one for further study. When she dies, order a special post mortem..."

Akio shook his head to try and clear his morbid thoughts. He might still have to take her to hospital if his daughter could not help him. He kept checking the hallway for a letter that may have slipped itself under the door like Chihiro's letters normally did. Would she respond to his pleas? Would that letter even reach her? She had looked radiant the day she had married that sly lizard and Akio had shed bittersweet tears knowing that his daughter, who he had never truly understood, was now someone else's to worry about. She had rejected everything they had ever wanted for her; a steady job, a nice human husband and in time, perhaps, children. Normal human children. She had chosen another way, a way he could not comprehend. Did she hate her world? Had that been what had driven her away? Or had that other place seduced her with its strange and dangerous beauty? Akio was startled out of his musings by a sharp knock at the door.

He thought it was probably another neighbour come to enquire if Yuuko was any better. He was sure there was a suspicion in the street that he had murdered his wife, as he never let any visitors see her. He opened the door, the lies ready on his tongue. He nearly choked when he saw his daughter standing on the doorstep, soaked to the skin by a heavy downpour that had started half an hour ago. She looked pale and weary, her brown eyes appearing overlarge as the dark evening had dilated her pupils. She blinked in the light pouring out of the front door; Akio simply stared at her. She shuffled her feet and shifted the large pack on her back. Finally, she grew impatient.

"Are you going to invite me in, Dad?" she asked casually. "I'm still technically a wanted woman and it's quite wet out here." Akio sprang into action. Ushering her into the hallway, he helped her remove her pack and coat. The simple green tunic she wore underneath it was wringing wet.

"How can you be here?" he asked. "I thought you could not return here."

"Haku found a loophole," Chihiro muttered distractedly as she started to dig around in her pack.

"The dragon let you go?" said Akio, clearly surprised. His daughter looked up at him and her tired eyes flashed with anger.

"He's my mate, not my gaoler, Dad," said Chihiro through clenched teeth. "Don't start insulting him. I've been back five minutes and you're already getting on my nerves. He has given up more than you can understand for me to be here. I would not be surprised if he will have to confine himself to bed in a few days. He will become too weak to talk or even eat by the time I get back. He is expending his every resource in order to keep me safe and you start on him the moment I arrive."

Chihiro's anger died quickly after reprimanding her father. In fact, a chilly calm came over her. Getting her mother better was all that really mattered. Akio fell silent, not knowing what to say. He kept glancing at the mark on the back of her hand; it reminded him of a cattle brand. Finally, Chihiro grunted, obviously finding what she was looking for. She extracted an earthenware bottle from the pack and she turned and trotted up the stairs to her parents' bedroom. She could smell the sickness as soon as she opened the door. The room was stifling and Chihiro had to take a moment to make sure her lunch stayed put. Underneath the coiling sickness smell was the odour her father had mentioned; sour pears. Kamaji had told her that this was the smell the body gave off when it started to digest muscle rather than fat. It produced acetone, which smelled like pears fermenting in the sun. In the light from the bedside lamp, Chihiro could see her mother's lips were swollen and black. Lurid green pimples almost glowed on her pale hands which rested on the blankets; she was breathing in short wheezing gasps and sweat beaded on her brow.

"How long has she been like this?" Chihiro whispered, truly shocked by her mother's condition.

"Two days," her father replied in a flat tone, "though the first symptoms appeared a week ago."

Chihiro moved to the bed and took out a tiny silver ladle from her pocket. She tipped a trickle of thick white liquid from the bottle and parted her mother's lips. Then she tipped the contents of the ladle into Yuuko's mouth and rubbed her throat gently until her mother swallowed. She administered another three doses of the potion. Already her mother seemed to be breathing more easily. It was a start. Chihiro turned to her father.

"This potion must be administered every hour for the next two days, four doses each time. I'll make up more of it tomorrow afternoon."

"It will cure her?" asked Akio hopefully.

"Eventually. As she gets better we will lesson the dose."

Akio nodded and then frowned at his daughter. "How did she get this; we've been home for weeks. It this a common illness? Have you ever had it?"

Chihiro shrugged. "Let's get her better first; all I can tell you is that Mum is the only one to get this and that is unusual." Again Akio nodded.

"Well, I can give her the potion; you should get some sleep, Chihiro. If you don't mind me saying you look terrible. I'll wake you when I need a rest myself."

Chihiro smiled a small smile and handed the bottle and ladle to her father. As she crossed the hallway to her old bedroom her father called softly after her.

"I'm very glad you're here, Chihiro, thank you for coming." Chihiro sighed, bid her father goodnight and slipped into her room.

She had forgotten how pink it was. He mother had decorated it in an effort to try and make her introverted daughter a bit more feminine. Chihiro lent against the door and sighed closing her eyes, trying to quiet her screeching nerves. Everything seemed so strange; even the air seemed different. She composed herself somewhat and opened her eyes. She gasped when she saw a well-remembered picture on the wall. The university must have sent her things back to her parents. A white dragon was painted on silk with a blue background. Her lip trembled. She stretched out her hand and ran her fingers over the silk, sweeping them up the dragon's nose. It had been her daily routine at one point, the only outward expression of what had happened to her that she had allowed herself.

"My beautiful white dragon," she breathed and her heart ached for a moment. She could still feel his presence even though it was very faint. She could still pinpoint his direction with relative accuracy, northeast at the moment.

"Oh Haku," she whispered. "I hope you have not bitten off more than you can chew this time."


	10. Longing

Meeka shuddered in the cool night air. She had been on watch duty for three hours now. That ordinarily would not be a problem but it was the company that bothered her. She checked the window before her was secure and moved on. A despicable little toad, still high on the success he had had over the mating season, had been ordered onto this shift with her. He now bore three claw marks across his cheek for one too many licentious comments. Now they were both intent on spending the rest of the shift avoiding each other, which suited Meeka just fine.

Meeka paused at the next window and glanced outside. It was very early in the morning and the moon was setting. Dawn was only an hour or two away. With no chores to be performed for her mistress for the moment, Meeka had tried to make herself useful where she could. Rin had pounced on her offer of help and this was her seventh-night watch in a row. The wood spirit did not mind; she liked to be busy. She checked the window and moved on.

"_Poor master Haku,"_ she thought. After the first few days of Chihiro's absence he had seemed fine, a little lethargic perhaps but nothing serious. On the eleventh day he had taken to his bed, too weak to stay awake for any length of time. Zeniba had been fussing over him like an old mother hen, bemoaning his stubbornness that he had not discussed the options with her first. Meeka remembered the argument the two of them had had before the dragon put himself in a trance.

"_Haku, this is INSANE! I can't even imagine the amount of your own resources you are putting into this to keep her there. You should have at least sought advice first."_

Haku had draped himself over a chair in his sitting room and glared at the witch.

"_You forget yourself Zeniba; I've not asked for your company or your advice. Do your job while I'm otherwise engaged and all will be well."_

"_Humph!"_ said the witch, by way of retaliation. _"This is foolish; you know the possible threat you face and yet you have allowed yourself to be manipulated. You are weakened when you should be conserving your strength. Many souls here depend on the protection you can give them. Who are you to bargain with their security so easily?"_

Haku's eyes flashed with anger.

"_My mind, body, soul and protection belong to one person alone. I owe them to no one else,"_ he hissed. Then he raised himself from the chair slightly._ "What would you have me do, Zeniba? Keep her here? Watch her worry herself away, not knowing if her mother lived or died? I saw her pain and felt it as if it were my own. I sent her and I stand by that decision."_ He slumped back with an exhausted sigh.

"_She would have never have agreed to go if she had known the seriousness of the situation,"_ snapped the witch.

"_True,"_ he replied thoughtfully, too tired to be angry anymore at the witch's impertinence. _"And that is why I chose not to tell her. I'll deal with her inevitable resentment when she returns. She is content for now, if a little homesick."_ A slow smile crept over his lips. "_And lonely… she is not sleeping well…_" He trailed off, his gaze far away. _"I wish I could have gone with her,"_ he whispered.

"_Well, you could not,"_ growled the witch. Meeka had never seen Zeniba so angry. However, unlike her sister, Zeniba's anger was cold. Somehow it was worse than her sister's fiery rage. _"You have gambled with the safety this bathhouse to satisfy the whims of your mate. I hope for your sake you are ready for the consequences."_

"_I am,"_ he replied calmly looking at her once more.

"_But is Chihiro?"_ asked the witch slyly. The room's temperature dipped by about two degrees and a few glasses shattered in the cabinets. Haku's chill gaze nearly reduced Meeka to a pleading heap on the floor and it was not even directed at her. The emerald eyes were ice cold and very, very angry.

"_I do not have to justify myself to you, crone,"_ he said quietly_. "Now I suggest you leave me alone for a while before I say or do something we both regret."_

Zeniba had stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Haku had closed his eyes. Meeka had shaken herself and sprung into life; she busied herself with cleaning up broken glass. Haku appeared to be asleep but after a few minutes, he sighed Chihiro's name. When he finally opened his eyes they seemed so sad that Meeka felt her own heartache in sympathy for him.

"_I only ever wanted what was best for her,"_ he whispered.

"_I know that, Master Haku,"_ said Meeka shyly. _"And mistress Chihiro knows it to."_ He nodded at her words but still looked troubled. _"She will be back soon, master,"_ whispered Meeka. _"I know it must be hard for you but…"_ The green eyes turned to her and Meeka quite forgot what she had been saying. Haku had smiled at her and Meeka was very glad that her fur covered her blush.

"_I have no doubt that she will be back soon Meeka; the question is what will she be returning to?"_

The day after that Haku had taken to his bed. Meeka was scared for him and wished Mistress Chihiro would return with all speed. Her mate needed her by his side. She supposed this was the disadvantage of being life mates. They literally could not live without one another. Meeka sighed and wondered how her mistress was coping with the separation. At least she was not having to suffer the massive drain of power Haku was, as well as being a world away from her mate. However, in some ways the human was stronger than her mate, tougher on the inside somehow and more level headed. Meeka was sure she was alright.

Chihiro sighed and sat back in her chair. Her mother was almost looking normal again, apart from a slight discolouration of her lips. She had been awake yesterday but not lucid, babbling that Akio had to remember to change Chihiro's nappy and test the temperature of the milk before he gave it to her. If Chihiro had not been so worried she would have laughed. She had been there two weeks and she had decided that as soon as her mother was up and about she would be back over the border as fast as her legs would carry her. She missed the spirit world and she missed her friends, and despite copious amounts of both coffee and chocolate, she missed _him_ bitterly.

She kept telling herself that it had only been two weeks, but it seemed as though it was two years; the days dragged by, and the nights ticked away sluggishly. She kept opening her mind to try to speak to him, only to remember that the powers they shared could not cross dimensions. Instead, she felt a yawning grey nothing, like a television that was not tuned into a channel. It frightened her; she had grown used to the silent communications between them and to find no answer time after time only served to remind her how lonely she was. Maddeningly, she could still feel a faint awareness of him, but he was as out of reach to her as the moon was.

She sat back in her chair and sighed, cradling a cup of tea in her hands. It was 3am and her turn to watch Yuuko. She had a book of sudoku puzzles and a racy novel she had found under her bed that she was sure Linca had lent her when they were at university. She had lost interest in both, however. The puzzles made her head hurt and the novel… Well, the novel was very badly written which annoyed her, but it also reminded her of everything she could not have.

"TWO WEEKS!" her body screamed at her. Two weeks without being held, without being told how much she was loved or appreciated. Two weeks without feeling his soft lips caress her neck or his sharp teeth nip her ear lobe playfully. Two weeks without hearing his teasing chuckle or his warning growl or feeling his warm breath on her skin. Two weeks without having her hair stroked or shoulders rubbed. Two weeks without his smell, not just the masculine musky smell that all males had but his own smell of mountain mists and clouds heavy with rain.

"Two weeks without sex," she muttered to herself. A year ago she would have never have thought that she would ever complain about such a thing. Then again if Linca was here she would probably say something like _"Those who don't miss it are not doing it right."_ Chihiro's rational self pointed out that she had made it through puberty and beyond without being so needy. But then again she did not know what she had been missing either. She closed her eyes and crossed her legs trying to ease her discomfort. It did not help.

She felt like she wanted to crawl out of her own skin, like she was some skittish mare who needed her master to run a firm hand over her back and flanks so she would calm. Oh she wanted him here with her. Shamelessly abandoning all inner propriety she indulged herself with yet another daydream.

_He would just walk into her bedroom, without a word of explanation of how or why he was there. He would drag her from her bed and kiss her fiercely. He would not have it all his own way however, oh no. She would loop her foot behind his and sweep his legs out from underneath him sending them both tumbling to the floor. She would start tearing at his clothes, desperate to see flesh. There would be surprise in his emerald eyes but desire also. He'd stroke her hair and kiss her softly telling her there was no need to rush he was not going anywhere. But she was beyond being calmed she needed him right at that moment or she was going to go insane. Once she had his clothes off, she would…. _

"Chihiro?" croaked a voice. Chihiro sat bolt upright and nearly spilled her tea. She looked guiltily into the confused eyes of her mother and felt a blush start to creep up her neck.

"_Stop it!"_ she told herself. _"It's not as if she could see what you were thinking." _

"You're awake!" cried Chihiro with false brightness.

"I think so," said her mother. "I've had a lot of strange dreams, this could just be another one…"She looked up at her daughter and frowned. "Now I know this is a dream; you can't be here." Chihiro smiled and told her mother how she had come to the human world and about the potion and her illness. It took Yuuko a while to take it all in and she kept stopping Chihiro to get her daughter to repeat things. At last, she said, "Haku will be alright won't he?"

"I'm sure he will be fine," smiled Chihiro. "He will be weak but he would not have sent me if he did not think he could do it."

"You're wrong," whispered her mother gravely. "I know how smitten that boy is, he would have sent you anyway."

Cold fingers of fear stroked over Chihiro's heart. Her mother could not be right? Could she? Haku could be irrational on occasion but not about something as important as this surely? Yuuko struggled to sit up and Chihiro helped her.

"Yuck! I feel as weak as your dragon must be right now, poor fool that he is," Yuuko complained. Chihiro got her to drink a glass of water and thought that if she could get some soup into her mother she would go and get her father. Akio would be ecstatic to see his wife so improved. Chihiro disappeared and returned with a mug of instant miso.

"Drink," she ordered. Her mother pulled a face at the mug but started to sip at it.

"You will be wanting to return as soon as you can I take it?" asked Yuuko.

"I'll stay a few more days just to see you back up and about. But yes I need to get back," replied Chihiro.

"I understand," said Yuuko sadly. "The sooner you get back the less of a burden you are to your dragon. I also understand that you don't want to stay here; this is no longer your home." Yuuko sighed sipped her soup and smiled. "You're so much like your grandmother; sometimes I think it's her staring out at me from your eyes, not my daughter." Yuuko shook her head. "Silly of me I know; you are very different people. She was a very devote woman and old fashioned. You're wilder and more headstrong than she ever was. That's why we raised you with no faith. My mother was so devoted to her religion I felt stifled by it. I never thought to ask her why she was so devoted to it until she was dying."

Chihiro listened intently to her mother. She knew Yuuko had lost her mother in her early twenties. It had been one of the things that had worried Chihiro so; history had a habit of repeating itself.

"I always knew my mother was a little different," continued Yuuko. "There was always a faraway look in her eye, as if she was longing for something, like her soul belonged in another place. It was not until she was dying that she told me something that she had cherished all her life. At the age of eleven, my mother went to the spirit world."

Chihiro gasped; all preconceptions she had about the stoic, strict grandmother that she had never met crumbled. "My mother's family lived in a small farming village in the mountains," Yuuko said. "After a hard day in the harvest season, they would all eat their evening meal outside on the edge of the rice paddies. My mother wondered away one evening into the woodland. She knew the woods well but that evening something was different; the woods became unfamiliar to her and she was lost. After wondering for hours she sat down by a huge tree and started to cry. Suddenly, a tiny pink piglet trotted up to her. It gave her a questioning look and asked her why she was crying. When she had got over the shock of having a pig talk to her, my mother told the pig she was lost. The pig sniffed her and then snorted as if she smelled bad. Then it said something that had puzzled my mother for years.

"The problem with your family is you don't know which world to live in. Don't wander too far from home on the solstices or equinoxes again. Making the jump between worlds is all too easy for the likes of you." Then it trotted away telling her to follow. Soon she was back in woods she knew. She turned to thank the pig but it had vanished. What she saw was a line where her woods ended and the strange dark woods of another world began. She said it was scary but beautiful and she nearly stepped back over that line. But she remembered what the pig said and ran home. She never told anyone what she had seen but she told me on her death bed that she believed our family was protected by powerful spirits. She also said not a day went by when she did not wish she had stepped back over that line. She thought that the spirit world may have stolen a part of her soul." Yuuko drank some more soup and shook her head. "I thought it was all nonsense, but you don't tell a dying woman such things. I never saw any of these spirits that were supposed to protect us but as my mother was forever pointing out, I had no gift for such things. I think it must have skipped me and instead my daughter was blessed with it."

She put down her mug; Chihiro was pleased to see she had drunk most of it.

"I still have not forgiven myself for not believing you Chihiro. With a mother like mine you would have thought that I would have at least been more tolerant, but…"

"It's alright, Mum," Chihiro soothed. "It's all forgotten." Yuuko was quiet and then she shivered. Chihiro was ready with another blanket but Yuuko waved her away.

"I'm not cold really, I was just thinking about something." Chihiro waited for her mother to fill the silence, not wanting to press her. She had already been more candid than Chihiro could ever remember her being. Maybe it was something to do with the amount of dreams Yuuko said she had had.

"You see that plant on the windowsill?" asked her mother suddenly. Chihiro turned to look. There on the sill was what she had assumed was another of her mother's weird hybrids. It was an orchid of sorts with fleshy red leaves that seemed to have a sticky fluid on them. Out of the leaves grew a thick red flower spike, on which were the most exquisite, if a little garish blood-red flowers. Yuuko rummaged in her nightstand and produced a rubber glove and a small plastic bag.

"Put this glove on and pick off two or three of those flowers and put them in this bag. Don't touch them whatever you do."

Chihiro was confused but she did as her mother asked. Once she had bagged and sealed the flowers she returned to the bed. "Put them in your pocket and take them with you," said Yuuko.

"Why?" asked Chihiro, frowning.

"Because when the local stray cat tried to chew on one of those flowers it was dead within a minute. I had to bring the plant in; it's too dangerous to keep outside. I'm not sure what happened to it when I brought those cuttings over from the bathhouse gardens but it was the only one that grew and it's deadly poisonous. The rest, like your dragon said, all died, but this one for some reason likes it here." She grinned at Chihiro, her cracked lips splitting a little as she did so. "I'm in line for a national horticultural award I'll have you know! I could command any price for that plant but I was thinking of donating it to the Tokyo botanical gardens where it can be looked after properly, with a few cuttings for myself of course."

Chihiro frowned at her mother. "So why give poison to me?"

"I'm not sure," shrugged her mother. "I just have this nagging feeling that you will need it." Chihiro nodded and slipped the deadly package into her pocket. Who was she to question her mothers gut feelings?

"I've given it a name, it's been recorded too," said her mother quietly.

"Oh?" asked Chihiro.

"I've called it the Dragon's Blood Orchid."

Chihiro gulped.

"Go home soon daughter; I may not know much about your world but I know it needs you more than we do."


	11. Battle for the Bathhouse

Meeka was sick of being on watch. She knew that the windows were all closed and she knew that there were no intruders on this floor. Yet she did her job and checked everything anyway; Master Haku was depending on her, and Mistress Chihiro would be home any day now. She hoped Mistress Chihiro's mother had recovered fully.

Meeka paused to gaze out of yet another window she was checking. The moon was a fingernail in the sky and provided little illumination. There were still a few hours until dawn but the night was not cold despite the sky being completely clear, showing a myriad of stars burning with their cold fire. It would be summer soon, and Mistress Chihiro would have been in the spirit world for almost a year. 

Meeka wished the summer would hurry; she always felt more alive when the trees were in full leaf. Besides, the mating season had been difficult for her this year; with the summer, the last of those disgusting urges would leave her. It was almost enough for the spirit to wish she was human; how blessed were that race not to have a mating season! She idly wondered how many of the staff had let themselves get pregnant. A nursery would have to be set up again; another one of Master Haku's innovations. Before, Yubaba would have just fired workers when they were too near their time to work.

Of course, there was always at least one case of forced fertility. Master Haku was very strict about such things. Meeka imagined his opinion on such issues would have hardened even more since he became a mate to a human. The last perpetrator he caught had been ordered to be whipped and banished from the bathhouse and surrounding lands as well as paying the mother reparation. Meeka dreaded to think what penalty the dragon would demand now he had his own female to protect. Then, of course, there was rape. 

Rape was exceptionally rare in the spirit world; as Meeka understood it, such a thing was a crime of anger rather than passion. Spirits must have a different make up to humans as it happened so infrequently, but there had been individuals desperate enough to force themselves on another, but again usually for the purposes of procreation. If that ever happened in the bathhouse, Master Haku would not have to intervene; the staff would tear the offender limb from limb.

A grey cloud floated across the moon. Meeka sighed; maybe it would start raining after all.

"**MEEKA!**" a voice snapped, making the wood spirit jump. Rin was stalking up the corridor and Meeka cursed herself for not remembering she was Watch Leader tonight. The waspish woman was extremely strict; why Mistress Chihiro liked her so much was beyond Meeka. "That's the third time I've caught you daydreaming this week!" the woman growled. "If I catch you once more, I'll put you on slopping out the pigpen!"

Meeka wrinkled her nose delicately at the thought. Her sense of smell was very acute and such a task would probably make her vomit; which was why Rin was so fond of the threat when dealing with spirits such as herself.

"I'm sorry," Meeka whispered, sounding as abject as possible. "I was just checking the weather; it looks like it may turn bad." Rin glanced at the window.

"That is of little concern to you who should be looking for intruders; you need to learn to stay on task and..." Rin trailed off and frowned at the window. The grey cloud that looked heavy with rain seemed to have swelled since Meeka had first seen it. Storms were nothing unusual on the plain but this cloud was isolated; the rest of the night sky was still clear. Meeka saw what interested Rin so much. The night was still; not even the grass was moving in the silver light, yet the cloud was moving, and rapidly.

Rin muttered a spell under her breath; Meeka recognised a far-see spell when she heard one. Rin gasped and stepped back from the window with a jerk. The colour had drained from the spirit's face, leaving her as pale as death.

"Meeka," Rin whispered at last. "Go and wake Haku up."

"But he is so weak!" Meeka protested.

"**GO!**" Rin roared suddenly. "Tell him we are about to be attacked, and if I'm any judge of these things, by a considerable force; this is a small _army_, not the small force he was expecting."

Meeka's ginger ears flattened and the hair rose at the back of her neck. She was incensed.

"Who dares attack Master Haku?" she hissed.

"**MOVE, CAT! NOW!**" Rin shouted, her voice squeaking slightly through fear.

Meeka found herself tearing down the hallway on all fours; her claws digging into the wood of the floorboards, giving her extra purchase and speed; ringed tail streaming behind her, like a banner.

Rin glanced at the cloud once more; it was looming even larger than before.

"Lady, help us all," she whispered. Then she turned and sprinted away to raise the alarm.

Rin, Linca and Zeniba all stood at the main gates. A horde of shadow people had gathered before the bathhouse. They stood in silent ranks on the opposite side of the bridge. There were a few other spirits among them. Zeniba saw some wood and grassland spirits, mainly low-level non-bonded spirits that had boar or lizard characteristics; the type of spirits that were more brawn than brain, and therefore easy to hire as mercenaries.

"I estimate two thousand out there, at least," muttered Zeniba.

"The shadow spirits are not powerful; it's the mercenaries that will be a problem," murmured Rin.

"You're right," nodded Zeniba. "And this place only has one approach for those on the ground so it's easy to defend. However, with such numbers involved, any shield we erect will not last long."

"Perhaps that is the intent," said Linca, her white, marble-like eyes surveying the invaders. "Knock out the shields and keep us busy while the mercenaries get in and out as quickly as possible."

"Or they could just try to raze the place to the ground" growled Rin darkly.

"That is not their intent," said a tired voice.

Slowly; painfully, Haku shuffled toward them. Meeka fussed about him like an old mother hen. He had lost weight and his face had thinned. His hair was lank and lifeless with none of its characteristic lustre. He was paler than anything that was still breathing should be, and there were large shadows beneath his eyes. His eyes seemed overlarge, and burned with a feverish intensity; it was clear to all that it was through will alone that he remained awake.

"You look like death warmed up," Linca commented with her usual tact. "Fat lot of good you are going to be to us; you can barely walk!" she scoffed. The emerald eyes focused on her and suddenly Linca wished she had not spoken. The jade depths were full of a cold determination that made her shudder.

"Yubaba wants this place in one piece," he said quietly. "I think the damage will be minimal. It is us they wish to incapacitate." A chilly smile touched his bloodless lips. "Kamaji has planned a warm welcome for them and you have all been drilled in your responsibilities by General Rin." His smile broadened and his teeth peeped at the worried-looking spirit woman. "Was it really necessary to have long-distance runs for the Yunnas who were off shift? I've had nothing but complaints since I woke up."

Rin blushed but mumbled in her defence about how out of condition they all were.

"Try curbing your megalomaniacal tendencies, just a little, Rin; this is a bathhouse, not a barracks." The teeth flashed again. "But you have done an excellent job; you all have. Thanks to you, we are ready for them. They would really need twice the numbers that they have here to overrun us. Conquest is not their agenda; this is merely a distraction."

"It's a fairly serious distraction, Haku," murmured Rin ruefully. She was treated to the same gaze Linca had received a few moments before. Then Haku shrugged.

"Perhaps, but we do not even know what they want yet."

As if awaiting his words, a large boar spirit started to cross the bridge. He had an impressive set of tusks, which he had tipped with steel. He wore boiled leather armour of the finest quality and his bristle covered body had many long pink scars received over many battles. He stopped halfway across and the small piggy eyes regarded the group of spirits gathered at the main gate dispassionately. His ears twitched and he snorted.

"What do you want, pig!" shouted Linca, before anyone could stop her. The boar grunted but gave no other indication that he was insulted.

"We are assembled at the behest of the mighty Yubaba!" he announced, his voice rasping. "She claims to be the rightful owner of the property. If you wish to avoid conflict, disband your forces and disable your defences. On your surrender, the dragon Kohaku will be taken into our custody; the rest of you have no involvement in this issue and have the chance to go free if you yield now."

"Well, well," said Haku to himself. "I'm popular today."

"There is no way my sister could assemble such a force," muttered Zeniba. "There is another involved in this. Shadow spirits are not easily led and are normally peaceful."

"It matters not!" growled Rin. "They are not having this place or my sister's mate!" She turned to the dragon. "Can you fight or do I have to babysit you?" Haku's hand fell to his sword, which was resting at his side.

"My form will not be perfect, but I'll be able to hold my own."

"Good," grunted Rin. She moved forward. The bladed staff clasped in her hand made an impressive walking stick.

"Where are you going?" asked Linca.

"To give our answer," said Rin in an offhand way. "Want to join me?" The former land spirit had an assortment of knives strapped to various parts of her anatomy and two were now held in her small, delicate hands.

The two marched across the bridge and refused the boar's offer. It was all incredibly civilised. Rin decapitated the mercenary after he threatened to eviscerate Linca. The head disappeared into the gorge beneath the bridge and black blood gushed over the planks as the body toppled backwards.

"That's going to take forever to scrub out!" gasped Meeka. Zeniba looked at Meeka sharply; quite sure the wood spirit's brain had addled.

"That will have got their attention; crude but effective," Haku grinned. The scent of blood curled up his nostrils, hot and heady. He licked his lips, relishing the prospect of spilling more. He was in an incredibly bad mood from his mind-numbing lack of energy and his body was unresponsive and slow; a change of form would be in order if he was going to do any real damage. A dragon was dangerous even when on the point of collapse. 

Instinct would take over and he would slaughter hundreds before the day was out. If he could get through this, Chihiro would return and the crippling drain on his power would cease. The possibility that things could go horribly wrong was there, however. He did not want to think about it but it nagged at him. He could not get rid of the thought that this was all fitting in very nicely with someone's plans. Haku did not like to think of himself as a pawn but the possibility was very real. He turned to the old witch beside him.

"If things go awry, I want you to look after Chihiro." Zeniba stared at him, hardly believing her ears. Haku unsheathed a dagger from his tunic, and with one swift movement, cut a lock of teal and black hair from his head and handed it to the witch.

"Give her that and tell her I love her," he ordered, while sheathing the dagger and drawing his sword. It took him a moment to stop trembling but the weakness passed and his resolve hardened.

"You will be asking me for this back at the end, Haku," said Zeniba softly. "And you can tell Chihiro you love her yourself, not that she does not know already."

"I hope so," he whispered and glared out at the rapidly retreating Rin and Linca. The shadowy horde were pursuing them over the bridge and those spirits that had carried other spirits in started to spiral up into the air to gain enough height to attack. The grey predawn light had faded and the sun's rays broke over the horizon, painting the landscape burnt orange and red.

Rin and Linca sprinted through the gates and they were closed behind them. Steel bars braced the gates and fire spirits welded them in place. Blue light glowed around the bathhouse and sulphur gave the air a tang. It took over fifty magic users to erect a shield of the size needed and it was only temporary. Everyone knew the invaders would get in eventually, and then it would come down to fighting in the corridors. 

However, the staff knew the territory and were well prepared. The invaders were nearly to the gate when the bridge exploded beneath them. Haku estimated that Kamaji's dynamite had just lowered invader numbers by over a hundred. The roars and squeals of the dying and injured assaulted his sensitive ears, accompanied by the scent of charred flesh. The battle for the bathhouse had begun.

Yubaba was hopping mad. She could hardly remember a time when she was so angry. Her hair was loose from her customary high bun and the grey tresses snaked around her. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot and smoke was beginning to curl from her mouth. Actually, thinking about it, she _could_ remember a time when she had been that angry.

"**_What did you do with my baby?_**_" She flew at the boy who had simply wandered into the nursery as if he owned the place. Her hair had wrapped around his back, shoulders and neck. Flames from her mouth had licked around him. He made no move to free himself. He met her furious gaze calmly, his green eyes showing nothing but contempt for her. It was then Yubaba had realised she had lost all control over him. She felt fear as those ethereal eyes stared back at her._

"_He's with your sister," said the boy dragon coldly..._

Yubaba felt her anger heat further. Flames sparked on her lips and teeth. He had been an arrogant lizard even then. He had grown so much worse since gaining his full powers. There was hardly anyone left who came close to him in power, his damn river was so well protected and he had learned so much from her... too much. Yubaba growled to herself. The only one who could give the dragon a run for his money was behind the doors before her and she was none too pleased with him at the moment.

She shoved the doors open and stomped into the open-air hall of translucent white marble. Kenshin sat on his black throne, poring diligently over maps and papers. Two shadow spirits aided him; one acted as a scribe, the other seemed to be a general dogsbody, pouring wine for him and sorting papers into neat piles. 

The cursed air spirit had some sort of affinity with the shadow people. They probably owed him something. Little was known about the shadow people, they rarely talked to those outside their race. All that was certain was that the older they became, the less of a form they seemed to have. Some looked almost human while others were shapeless black masses with pits where some sort of eyes should be. They were a closed society but the air spirit was treating them as his servants.

The air spirit himself did not even acknowledge her presence; his head remained bent over papers, leaving the witch to froth at the mouth. After a few moments of being utterly ignored Yubaba could stand it no longer.

"**YOU! THEY ARE BLOWING HOLES IN MY BATHHOUSE!**" she shrieked. Kenshin winced at the sound and finally turned to her. One black eyebrow rose, the only outward sign he gave that the witch was irritating him.

"Calm yourself," he said softly, "you look terrible." The flames licked higher from the witch's mouth.

"You said they would not damage the bathhouse!" she protested. Cold grey eyes locked with her own, and Yubaba felt her anger lessen as a shudder passed up her spine.

"I well remember what I said," Kenshin said coolly. "I told you there would be minimal damage. This is a battle; be glad if the place is still standing at the end of it."

Yubaba shrieked with renewed indignation.

"That's my Bathhouse, you fool! You have no idea what it's like to see something you have built with your own hands destroyed!"

The wind above her head howled as the spirit before her stood. He casually brushed the matt black hair back from his face as if to give Yubaba an unimpeded view of his strange eyes that held the wisdom of the ages in their depths. Deliberately he strolled towards the witch and just as deliberately he slowly raised his right hand. The blow was so swift it took Yubaba's brain a moment to realise that she was on the floor and that her nose was bleeding. She looked up disbelievingly at the figure in black standing over her. His eyes were still cold and dispassionate, as if he was bored with the situation already. He clenched and unclenched his fist making the joints pop ominously.

"Get up," he said gently. Then he turned from her and draped himself over his throne. Yubaba struggled to her feet, feeling numb with shock. "I have something to take your mind off things while the battle continues," he said conversationally, as if it had been someone else who had just backhanded her.

"Swamp Bottom's mistress is indisposed at the moment. Go to the cottage and bring me her seal; I need it." Yubaba bowed low and shuffled away but his voice called out to her again, low and seductive as always; it slipped into her mind with frightening ease.

"Yubaba?"

She turned and looked back at him; he was not even paying attention to her. The air spirit's head was bent over a map one of the shadow spirits had just handed him.

"If you ever come before me again in such a state, I'll kill you. Do not presume that because you woke me up I will tolerate being ranted at."

Yubaba felt her heart grow cold but she bowed with deference and shuffled away.

"It's all for the bathhouse," she murmured. "It will be worth it in the end; it's all for the bathhouse." She smiled to herself and imagined what she would say to Haku when she took back what was hers. "He will not be so arrogant then!" she grinned. "It will all be worth it."

[ linktr.ee/annavelfman ](https://linktr.ee/annavelfman)


	12. Burning

Chihiro had decided to give her mother three more days to make sure she was well on the road to recovery. Yuuko steadily improved and was out of bed and even took a bath on the second day. On the third day, Chihiro came downstairs to find her mother trying to prepare breakfast for her.

"Mum! What are you doing?" Chihiro exclaimed snatching at the jam covered knife Yuuko was purposely wielding.

"I'm fine, Chihiro," sighed her mother.

"No, you're not," snapped Chihiro. She took her mother by the shoulders and guided her to the sofa. "You were at death's door a few days ago. I have not selflessly nursed you back to health to see you tire yourself now. Don't make me regret using so much of Haku's power. Now sit down and don't move!" Suitably chastised Yuuko lowered herself into the seat.

"Oh, alright," she groaned. "But I do think I'm well enough to make a bit of toast; it won't kill me to wait 5 minute for the toaster to do its job."

"Toast?" Chihiro sniffed the air. The aroma of burning bread suddenly filled her lungs, making her swear. She dashed to the kitchen and popped the incinerated bread out of the toaster and opened a window, hoping to dispel the black cloud before the smoke alarm went off.

She was still muttering to herself about her mother's stubbornness when white-hot pain lanced through her stomach. Chihiro cried out and had to grab the kitchen counter for support as she doubled over. It felt like someone had just ripped open her stomach and was in the process of eviscerating her. She opened her eyes, expecting to see loops of pink intestine spilling onto the kitchen floor. But there was nothing, just agony with no obvious cause.

Her mother and father were trying to get her to tell them what was wrong but she could only wail and tremble. Her father seemed to think her appendix had ruptured. If she could have, Chihiro would have laughed. Bile rose in her throat. Her tongue felt overly thick and clumsy in her mouth. She retched, expecting blood to pour from her mouth, but she only dribbled saliva; there was nothing in her stomach to bring up. Her sight seemed to be darkening around the edges, she shook and cold sweat ran down her face. Her mother wanted to call an ambulance but Chihiro shook her head. She was still wanted by the police and if she went to hospital she was sure she would end up on a psychiatric ward. She retched again, her body desperately trying to expel what was hurting her. But the pain was a phantom with no outward cause. Through the haze that was beginning to cloud her vision, Chihiro managed to focus on the hand that gripped the kitchen counter with white knuckles. The mating scar on the back of her hand was bleeding freely, as if it had been reopened. She also managed to register that the Tac'Tal at her throat was burning hot enough to blister the skin it was in contact with. Desperately, she tried to focus on the object, hoping it would tell her what was going on. She tried to concentrate and was making some headway when pain burst in her head as if she had been struck and suddenly she could not see. Her legs buckled and she hit the floor.

"Haku," she breathed, but there was no answer. She blacked out.

Yubaba had returned. Kenshin regretted losing his temper with the old witch; such a vile display of temper was not becoming for one of his station. He was as calm as a warm breeze most of the time; in fact, he prided himself on his emotional detachment from everyone and everything, however, the witch's petty concerns had been laid before him at exactly the wrong time. His spymaster had just reported to him that they could find no trace of the human girl in the bathhouse, then Yubaba had stormed in. The girl's absence had both annoyed and worried him.

An hour ago, he had been informed that despite the fall of the defences of the bathhouse, the place was still firmly in his opponents' hands. It had not been necessary to win the battle but it would have been a big bonus and made things easier for him in the long run. The plan had been to weaken the dragon by harming the human's family. Thus, when they attacked, getting at the human would be much easier without her rabid mate protecting her. It also had the double advantage of keeping Zeniba away from her home.

He had spent time puzzling over his lost human problem. Eventually, it occurred to him that the dragon just might have been stupid enough to send the girl to her own world to care for her mother. At first, he refused to countenance such a thing. Haku was a water spirit; they were famous for thinking with their hearts instead of their heads, but opening a portal and protecting the girl in the other world bordered on insanity! The power it would take was unimaginable; it would have been easier to send a spirit rather than the human bonded to the spirit world. But the more Kenshin thought about it, the more he began to think the dragon may have attempted what should be almost impossible.

Kenshin eventually admitted to himself that he had made a near-fatal error and underestimated his opponent. The plan could adapt, he had ensured that, so it was not a catastrophe and the situation could even be turned to his advantage. Thus he was in a much better mood when Yubaba returned, and he had only minutes earlier been informed that the battle had yielded him a wonderful consolation prize. And at least the other part of his plan had gone smoothly so far. On the palm of Yubaba's knarled, trembling hand, lay Zeniba's solid gold monogrammed seal; a gift to the witch from the Gods. It was a very useful trinket, having the power to concentrate and purify magic. As a skilled swordsmith would choose to work with the best steel, the seal allowed the user to access a superior form of magic. The user still needed skill to use it, but the end product would be of finer quality and greater strength. Kenshin needed it for his plan; only the purest, strongest magic would instigate what he wanted.

Saying nothing to the shaking witch, who knelt with her head bowed at the foot of his throne. Kenshin lifted the seal from her palm and walked to the back of the hall. Behind his modest throne, resting on a pure platinum tripod, was a huge ball of pure obsidian. Kenshin had travailed tirelessly for two months to find such a large, flawless stone. Indeed the head-sized stone was probably the largest in existence within the spirit world. The stone was rare and had cost him a fortune. The spirit had spent a further three months polishing it to an oily black gleam and "feeding" it with his own magic and blood. On top of the ball, he had carefully carved a square depression. It was into this that Kenshin placed the gold seal.

He stepped back. The black ball took on a red sheen and then power crackled through the entire hall like static. Yubaba gasped and her hair would have stood on end if it had not been pinned into a bun. The red light grew more intense and then the seal on top of the ball turned white. A beam of white light shot from the top of the seal and headed up into the harsh blue sky where it disappeared. Kenshin ran a hand through his matt black hair; it was damp with sweat.

"It has begun," he whispered, still staring at the red ball and then letting his grey eyes follow the white light skyward. He could almost feel the minute changes that were already taking place. It would be some time before anyone would notice. Hopefully, by the time they did, those who would stop him would be taken care of.

"Are you sure there is no other way?" Yubaba whispered. Kenshin did not mind her questioning him on this; the prospect was daunting even for him.

"I am sure," he replied. "Have courage, Yubaba. If all goes well, you will have a whole new market to cater for."

"I'm not letting them anywhere near my bathhouse!" the witch spluttered.

Kenshin smiled at the witch and turned from the mesmerising ball to where the witch was still kneeling. He fixed her with an enquiring gaze and saw her try to hide a wince.

"You did so once," he said flatly.

"And look where it got me!" the witch retorted. "No money, no bathhouse, no child and having to rely on the charity of a..." Yubaba snapped her mouth shut, her large eyes widening. Kenshin watched with approval as she calmed herself. "Not that I am not grateful to you, you have done much and asked for nothing."

"Being made aware of the prophecy was payment enough, Yubaba. I now know who may try to interfere and as they say, forewarned is forearmed." He paused for a moment as if considering something and allowed himself a smug smile as the witch started to tremble again. "You may go," he said at last. He returned to watching the obsidian ball, turning his back to the witch. He heard Yubaba mutter to herself as she left, obviously forgetting about his sensitive hearing.

"They also say pride comes before a fall."

Kenshin's lips quirked in a half-smile and he let the comment pass. The witch was old and cranky and he could not chastise her every transgression; it was in her nature to be outspoken. Besides, it kept him humble. The last thing he needed was to embark on a power-crazed crusade. He had done that before and it was highly overrated.

Chihiro slowly opened her eyes. She had a headache and her stomach felt quite tender. She moved her hands over herself, checking for injuries. There were none. She realised that the ceiling she was staring at was the one that belonged to her bedroom. Nowhere else in her house were luminous plastic stars stuck to the ceiling and arranged in the shape of the constellation Draco. A smile touched her lips as she remembered her twelve-year-old self carefully arranging those stars. How she had not known that her heart completely belonged to him she did not know. Maybe she was a good liar, even to herself.

Suddenly she remembered the strange malady that had hit her in the kitchen. What had happened to her? She knew she had not stayed too long but had Haku overestimated his abilities? She remembered the bleeding mating scar, though her hand looked normal now and the scar was a thin gold line once more. Worry for her mate grabbed at her heart, causing her to whimper as if in pain. She sat up and her head swam. Undeterred, she swung her legs over the bed and even a dry retch could not stop her from standing up. Once on her feet, she felt a little better. She glanced at her clock; she had been out for about two hours so it was almost lunchtime. She quietly opened the door and shuffled onto the landing.

Her parents were talking downstairs. She listened while steadying herself against a wall.

"Do you have everything on the list?" Yuuko's voice floated up to her from the kitchen.

"Everything except the sticking plasters; we are out of them," said her father. There was a sound of a heavy-duty zip being undone and Chihiro imagined that they must be packing a bag.

"With that funny turn she has had she should take time to recover. We should not be encouraging her to leave just yet," said Yuuko in a worried tone.

"She must do what she must. You know as well as I do, she would crawl back on her hands and knees if she had to. This is best. At least she won't be leaving us empty-handed. We have done all we can; that world is calling her back and we must let her go or we shall burn all the bridges we have worked so hard to build with her," Akio declared.

Chihiro thought she must be still asleep and dreaming a very strange dream. Her father was not only defending her but it sounded like he was trying to understand her. He had never understood her but perhaps the spirit world had changed him. Chihiro decided not to question her father's change of heart and tackled the stairs one at a time. By the time she had made it to the bottom, her stomach had stopped churning.

She managed to walk normally into the kitchen. Her parents both looked up from the huge black sports bag they were packing. Chihiro saw tins of food, slabs of chocolate, jars of coffee, bottles of various spirits, roles of bandage and bottles of cough and cold medicine all stuffed haphazardly into the bag.

"I think we have everything," said her mother. "I know you probably have most of this at the bathhouse but what you don't need you can throw away." The lump that appeared suddenly in Chihiro's throat seemed to want to choke her to death.

"I'll drive you down to the woods," said her father, "unless you want to stay a little longer. Don't get the impression that we are throwing you out... We just thought that after... whatever it was that happened earlier... that you would want to go back quickly." Her father stumbled over his words almost boyishly.

"You should rest!" Her mother protested.

"I have to go," said Chihiro quietly. "Something is wrong; I can feel it. I'm not sure what but it's bad enough to affect me in the human world. I must return; Haku will be very weak by now and I'm putting him at risk if I stay." Akio nodded at her words and zipped up the bag.

"I'll put this in the car. Come out when you are ready." Akio was barely out the door when Yuuko locked her daughter in a fierce embrace.

"Thank you for coming," she whispered. "And thank my son-in-law too. I may not be able to brag about him to my friends but I defy any of them to marry their daughters to a better boy."

"Son-in-law?" said Chihiro weakly.

"But of course!" her mother cried. "He is family and I love him dearly, not just because he is a good person but because I see how happy he has made you." She squeezed her daughter tighter. "Take care of yourself. And remember that I am proud of you. We will visit as soon as we can and make sure you keep writing to us."

"I will," whispered Chihiro.

Yuuko followed her out to the car. She wanted to come with Chihiro but Akio told her that she should stay at home. She was supposed to be convalescing. Chihiro added her support to her father and Yuuko headed back indoors. She waved from the window as Akio pulled his new Audi out of the drive.

"She'll cry herself silly once we are out of sight," he said.

"I know," muttered Chihiro.

The car sped down the hill. Akio was driving with his customary disregard for his own and others' safety and Chihiro clung to her seat.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Chihiro said and winced as he took another corner at breakneck speed.

"I've just not been in a car for a while. It's noisy and smelly. I much prefer travelling by train. Dragon is even better." To her surprise, her father laughed.

"Well, I'm sure if I had a dragon at my disposal I would prefer to travel that way too."

There was a companionable silence between them as the car sped around another corner and turned onto the old one-track road. They bumped and jiggled up the rutted road and Chihiro could see the faces of those ugly statues peeping at her from behind the new leaves on the branches.

She felt a sense of peace settle on her and a weight that she did not know had been there was lifted from her. She was almost home. Suddenly the car screeched to a halt and Chihiro's seat belt locked up to hold her in her seat. How her father had never crashed was a mystery.

She sighed and smiled with relief. The tunnel through the clock tower was before them. As much as she trusted Haku, she had been disappointed in trying to find that elusive tunnel enough times to make her almost paranoid. But it was there, flaking red plaster and all. It was an odd thing to hide a dimensional gate in but she was not going to complain. Her father opened the boot and handed her the heavy, oversized sports bag.

"Well," he said with a bright smile. "I guess this is it. We won't see you again till the summer, I suppose." Chihiro smiled back.

"It's not that far away, Dad," she said. He nodded and there was an awkward moment as neither of them could think of what to say. At last, her father mumbled a gruff "thank you" and turned to get into the car.

"Wait!" cried out Chihiro. Akio turned back and looked at her expectantly. She could not leave things like this. Something was missing. Haku had said that he knew the human world was not finished with her; perhaps he was right. Maybe she had to return to make her peace with it, and her past. She covered the distance between them at a fast trot. It felt like she was running back through the years; that time was rewinding itself just for her so she could do what needed to be done. She threw her arms around her father's torso and buried her face in his shirt. She remembered his smell; her childhood memories were filled with it; strong, safe and secure. Her father, her childhood protector, her harshest critic and strongest supporter. She felt his body stiffen at the unusual contact, but she just held him tighter.

Slowly, very slowly, Akio's hands wound their way around his daughter's shoulders and he allowed himself to do something that he had not done for years through stubborn pride and a twisted sense of shame. He held his daughter and loved her just as she was.

"I love you, daddy," whispered Chihiro

"I love you too," came the strained reply.

"And I forgive you, for everything," she breathed. Chihiro heard Akio catch his breath and looked up into the face of the first man she had ever loved. Akio was crying. The tears were rolling down his features and wetting the collar of his shirt. He let go of her and wiped at his eyes.

"You'd best be going now," he said, his voice breaking. "Your mother will be worried if I am away too long." Chihiro nodded, her own tears joining her father's. She turned and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Farwell, daughter," called Akio as she stepped into the tunnel. Chihiro did not look back. She had no need to; she had done everything she had come to do.

The building howled as she exited it. The new-grown grass of the rolling hills that characterised the borderland between the two worlds was lush and verdant green. Chihiro smiled. It was a beautiful place in its own way. But she had to hurry, her family would be expecting her back and she had so much to tell them and had to share out the goodies that her parents given her. Most of all, she needed to see her mate's face. Excited, she closed her eyes and concentrated, mentally reaching for him. She wanted to let him know she was here and have him come and meet her so they could be reunited properly before the rest of her family claimed her.

She frowned. She still could not find him, there was just the same grey static feeling that she got in the human world.

"I'm still not technically in the spirit world; that will probably be it." But there was a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. It had been there since she had blacked out in the kitchen that morning. She started to jog down the hill and was sprinting by the time she reached the dry river bed. The smell of smoke tickled her nostrils; wood smoke. Alarm bells chimed in her head and she pushed herself harder. She bounded up the steps despite her heavy bag and tore through the shabby street, desperately hoping she would not find what her nose told her she would.

She ignored the fact that there was wooden debris littering the street and she ignored the damaged buildings. Panting, she mounted the second flight of stone steps, taking them two at a time; she reached the top and skidded to a halt. Her bag slipped from her shoulder and slid to the ground. Some of the contents shattered; she did not even notice. She gazed at the sight before her with dismay.

The bathhouse was burning.


	13. Spirited Away

Chihiro could hardly believe her eyes. Red fire spewed from the top floors and there was a large hole in the dormitory wing that had exposed several floors to the outside world. Chihiro noticed strange details, like the clashing decors of the separate floors she could see through the wound in the bathhouse side. Every window in the building looked as if it had shattered. 

The red, painted teak bridge that linked the pillar of rock that the bathhouse perched on to the rest of the sprit town was gone. Someone had strung three ropes across the chasm; two ropes for handrails and one to balance the feet on. Whoever had erected it must have been desperate to get in, or out for that matter. Chihiro was not sure which at the moment. She stood perfectly still, transfixed by the dancing flames that licked hungrily at the top floors. Slowly it began to dawn on her that the bathhouse had been attacked in her absence and she was seeing the aftermath.

"Yubaba, what have you done?" Chihiro breathed. She crossed the rope without thinking, not even looking down, trapped in an almost dream-like state. The swaying ropes and the yawning drop did not register in her mind. Wood smoke filled her nostrils; her senses still functioned with the improvements that came from being mated to a dragon. Soon she smelt other things, predominately burnt flesh.

She had barely stepped from the makeshift bridge when she saw her first body. A boar spirit, dressed in thick boiled leather armour. The side of its black bristled face had been burnt, pulling its mouth to one side in a gruesome smirk that made its clouded staring eyes seem almost alive, like it was sneering at her. Its stomach had been laid open by a sword or perhaps a claw; stomach and intestine had slithered across the ground and had been stepped on many times, rupturing the organs and spilling their contents. 

The smell was indescribable, even a stink spirit did not compare. The strange detachment Chihiro had been feeling started to evaporate and she felt sick. She quickly walked past the body and pushed her way through the splintered remains of the doors and found herself on the first main bathing floor.

It was carnage. There musthave been at least seventy bodies littering the polished floors. Almost transparent remains of shadow spirit that oozed silver blood, more boar spirits in various stages of dismemberment, here and there a lizard spirit with jewelled eyes and blue scales and there were yunnas, so many yunnas. Chihiro thought she recognised the yunnas that lay nearest to her. Half the woman's face was torn away, revealing teeth, gums and bone. A river of blood had coagulated to a foul-smelling jelly on the floor. 

Chihiro realised she was standing in it. She shuffled backwards but slipped in the viscous substance; she lost her balance and fell backwards. Her rump hit the floor with a sickening squelch, but reality still kept its distance until she put her hand through a shadow spirit's chest as she tried to lever herself back up. It was still warm. 

She pulled her hand back with a gasp and looked at it. Silver blood covered it and started to run down her arm in shimmering rivulets and bits of acid green innards had stuck between her fingers and under her nails. The protective bubble burst. She lurched onto her hands and knees and was violently sick. Chihiro shuddered and whimpered, then rose and wiped her hand across her mouth, smearing her face with silver blood.

A million and one questions crowded into her mind, but most pressing of all was what had happened to her family? Their faces flashed before her; Kamaji cut down by a boar spirit's spear; Meeka, claws broken and blunted, fighting for her life against a swarm of shadow spirits; Linca, bleeding badly from a wound in her side, her immortal life draining away; Rin by her side, a determined yet hopeless look on her face as she prepared to defend her sister. And Haku; Haku smeared with blood, backed against a wall, sword raised, his eyes bright and feral, teeth bared and growling at his attackers.

"No!" Chihiro gasped. "Where are they?" Her shell shocked brain reasoned that if the top of the bathhouse was on fire then any survivors would be fighting the blaze. That was if there were any survivors. She pushed that last thought aside and allowed herself to hope.

It was obvious that the bulk of the fighting had taken place on the lower floors. She was not sure who she would meet, friend or foe, if she tried to ascend by the normal route. The elevators were probably not even working and it was never wise to use them while there was a fire. She limped away from the corpse-filled room, trying her best not to slip again. 

Once back outside in the relatively fresh air, she crawled through the small door to the courtyard gardens; the same door her mate had rushed her through all those years ago. This area of the bathhouse seemed relatively untouched; it seemed the attackers had concentrated on getting in, not wholesale destruction of the building. 

Leaving the gardens, Chihiro almost ran past what she was looking for; a ladder. There were a few of these ladders. They ran up the length of the bathhouse and they were mainly used for cleaning and maintaining windows, but were also a lifeline in the event of a fire, though most would be leaving by them, not trying to get in like Chihiro. 

She began to climb. Hand over hand, step by step, she scaled the wall. She had to take a few breaks; she was not a nimble ten year old with boundless energy anymore. Panting and sweating, she made it to the end of the ladder, her arms shaking with the effort. The window this ladder stopped at was on the mid-level floors, above the worst of the fighting, Chihiro hoped. Looking up she thought the fire seemed less fierce. Perhaps there really was someone trying to put it out?

She gritted her teeth and swung her feet up onto the window ledge. She ignored the yawning drop below her and pushed on the window, which miraculously seemed to still have glass in it but it was locked. Cursing, Chihiro pulled her sleeve over her hand and put her fist through the glass. Shards pierced the cloth and scratched her deeply and her knuckles did not appreciate the rough treatment and split open. Reaching in and undoing the hasp, she tumbled into a hallway with a cry. 

She picked herself up and squatted, ready to dart away if she had been heard. She really regretted leaving her dagger behind in her apartment even if she was still very bad at using it. But she did have her hair sticks and she removed the needle-thin blades from their sheaths and felt immediately better with a blade in each hand. They might not inflict too much damage but it was better than being totally unarmed. Slowly she stood and looked around her. The hallway was unlit and empty. She pressed herself against the wall and keeping to the shadows she moved down the corridor on almost silent feet. She could still smell blood and burning but there were no signs of fighting here. She found a stairway and forced her complaining legs to climb. Higher and higher the stairs took her and the burning smell grew stronger.

Finally, she arrived at the top floor. She could hear voices in the distance and there were wood and bits of screen scattered everywhere, accompanied by piles of rubble from holes being blown in the roof and all the wood bore scorch marks. Among the detritus were more bodies, some were so badly burned it was had to tell what type of spirit they had been. Taking shallow breaths, Chihiro followed the sound of the voices. She peered cautiously around a corner and found her firefighters. Two yunnas and some sort of bird spirit were throwing buckets of rainbow coloured sand on the flames. The fire hissed and retreated significantly with each bucket thrown. Behind these spirits were four more, hands joined and chanting an incantation. Twenty more buckets shimmered into existence.

"How much more will you need?" shouted one soot-covered spirit.

"About another thirty to save this section, can you manage that?" whistled the bird spirit over his shoulder.

"We will have to," replied the first spirit tiredly. "Everyone else is busy."

Chihiro froze. It had taken her a little time to recognise her but the voice gave her away; low, throaty and heavily accented. Linca was covered in soot from head to toe. Holes had been burnt in her tunic and she had a large cut up her right arm and another across the bridge of her nose which was quite possibly broken. With her hair singed and ragged she looked more like a soot ball than the elegant spirit she was most of the time.

Chihiro stepped out from behind the corridor and Linca looked up. Time stretched out for a moment and all Chihiro was aware of was the crackling fire and the shocked white eyes staring into her own.

"Chi... Chihiro," Linca choked out. Chihiro's lip wobbled, she was so relieved to see her.

"Will... Will someone please tell me what is going on?" she whimpered. Linca freed herself from her fellow spell casters and limped towards her human sister. She did not seem pleased to see her. She took the human's hands in her own.

"Get away from here now, Chi," she said gently. "You should not have returned yet, you still have a few days, go back for now." Chihiro opened her mouth to tell Linca about what had sent her rushing back but she thought better of it, settling for a shake of the head.

"Alright," Linca sighed. "I can't force you to leave. How you have made it this far without running into a mercenary is beyond me; the bathhouse is still crawling with stragglers."

"What happened?" asked Chihiro in a whisper.

"I don't have time to give you the story now, Chihiro, I am needed. The best thing you can do is go somewhere safe and wait until things are under control again."

"I want to help!" cried Chihiro. Linca shook her head.

"You can't do magic and your defences are poor if you are attacked. We want you safe. Please, for once do as I ask. Your old room will be the best place for you, that floor was hardly hit."

"Why can't I go to my apartment surely it's much more secure and..."

"It's not there anymore, Chihiro," said Linca quietly.

Chihiro frowned. Not there? That place was her home; how could it suddenly just be gone? She stared blankly at her sister, not able to grasp what she was getting at.

"I'll take you down," Linca sighed, not liking the look on Chihiro's face. The land spirit tugged on Chihiro's hand but Chihiro snatched her hand away.

"I don't need an escort, Linca," she said sharply. "I can find my own way there. You're right, you are needed here." Linca looked at her, unsure, but she eventually nodded.

"Be careful, sister, I meant what I said, the bathhouse is not safe. Use the servant's stairs and be as quiet as possible. When you reach your room, bolt the door and move some furniture over it too. I'll knock five times when I come and get you." She gave Chihiro a brief but vicious hug, then the diminutive sprite hobbled back to the fire and smoke.

"Be safe; we have lost enough already, do not add yourself by being careless, or I'll beat you senseless," shouted Linca over her shoulder.

Chihiro headed for the stairs again and tried not to think about the loss of her apartment. Her stomach still clenched with fear for her family and friends but Linca would have told her if any harm had come to them. She relaxed a little and concentrated on descending the rickety servant's stairs without them creaking. That meant she had to move painfully slowly. She strained her hearing but could hear nothing but the crackling of the fires and the creak of damaged timbers. 

She wondered how Haku was. Had he been injured? He was probably fighting fires or clearing out invaders. She tried to call to him again but received only echoes in her mind of her own words. She could still feel him somewhere but she could get nothing exact. She sighed and stopped trying. He was probably so busy he could not spare the energy to reply to her.

"I need to trust him to do what he has to do. I will see him when he is finished." She really could not help him even if he was injured. She needed to be a good little human and get out of the way. It hurt her that she was a hindrance but this was no time for foolish pride.

She made it to the corridor that her old room was on without incident. The corridor was indeed in good condition compared to the upper floors; there had been fighting but judging by the minimal damage it had been sporadic. Only the odd door and wall bore the scars of the recent chaos. There were a few drips of blood on the floor but no bodies or dismembered limbs. She slipped silently from the stairs and crept along the corridor, keeping close to the wall. She could see the door to her old room but she took no joy at finding herself in relative safety. Her family were risking their lives and all she was doing was hiding.

"I'm not useless," she muttered. "I could do something."

Afterwards, Chihiro was sure that some evil spirit or God somewhere heard her and decided to test her. Either that or the universe had a sick sense of humour. In any case, her luck held just long enough for her to become aware she was being followed; the faintest creak of a floor board out with her own movements. The Tac' Tal flared with a warning. Her breath and heart stopped and she froze for a split second. Instinct took over; she dropped to a crouch and rolled sideways, her shoulder colliding painfully with the side of the corridor. 

She was on her feet in a second and she spun to meet her stalker. It was a large mass of shadow spirit; vacant holes of eyes regarded her. Chihiro had always found the formless spirits with their empty, eyeless sockets creepy, but this one was terrifying, mainly because of the large double bladed axe it was pulling out of the wall where her head had been but a few moments ago. This spirit meant to kill her. She trembled; the spirit was leaking silver blood from a number of wounds. It pulled the axe from the wall and hefted it experimentally.

"_It's dying,"_ thought Chihiro absently. The trembling had become shaking, the adrenalin pumping through her body screamed for movement, for fight or flight, it did not matter. But her feet would not move; she was paralysed with fear.

"_Run you idiot!"_ she thought to herself. _"Or you're going to be chopped to bits!"_

But she could not move; she could barely breathe. The spirit advanced at a leisurely pace. There were ten feet between them, then eight, then five and all Chihiro could do was watch.

"_I really am useless!"_ she thought. _"I can't even save myself!"_ The spirit raised its axe and Chihiro squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting the last thing she saw to be that wickedly glinting weapon.

"**RUN"** a voice as large as an ocean pounded through her head. **"RUN NOW!"**

She ducked. The movement was well practiced and smooth and she scrambled away from the spirit. She was running for a few seconds before she opened her eyes. She vaulted over two corpses on the floor without even thinking, she just kept running. The uncontrollable fear that had turned her to stone now leant wings to her feet. Her thigh muscles burned and her lungs laboured, her still trembling hands found her hair sticks. They would be little protection against the huge spirit. She was tiring and a stitch niggled in her side making it more difficult to run.

"**FASTER!"** demanded the voice. She tried with all her might to quicken the movement of her leaden legs but again fate conspired against her.

She turned a corner and skidded to a halt. The corridor had collapsed; there was a gaping hole in the ceiling that seemed to go up about ten floors and she could see blue sky above. Her way was blocked by rubble and detritus from the floors above, and judging by the smell there were a few charred bodies in the mountain of broken floorboards, plaster and rubble. Chihiro looked up at the sky and wanted to howl with the unfairness of it all. 

If she were a spirit she could have easily jumped to the next floor, but it was beyond her human body. She tried scrambling up the rubbish, hoping to gain enough height to pull herself through the hole, but the mound was unstable and moved under her feet, sending her crashing to the ground. She landed on her rump, right in front of her pursuer. Chihiro yelled and with no forethought grasped her hair sticks and plunged them into the formless mass of dark shadows. The spirit reeled back and squealed in pain. The hair sticks seemed to be absorbed into its body, causing much more damage within. But the spirit was already dying and determined to kill her before it breathed its last. It advanced again and Chihiro had nowhere else to go except try to scramble backwards up the pile of debris.

"Why are you doing this?" she shouted at the spirit. "I've never done anything to anger your kind!" The spirit paused for a moment then it whispered an answer in a dry, papery voice.

"For the future, it would be better for all if you died."

"You're mad!" Chihiro shouted desperately. "How on earth can you know the future; no one can." The spirit said no more, just raised its axe and came after her. Chihiro's hands frantically searched behind her as she scrambled back. She needed something, anything to defend herself with. She backed higher up the slope, nearly slipping twice but nothing useable came to her hands.

"_Please,"_ she begged the universe at large. _"Anything will do; a pipe, a thick bit of wood, a kitchen knife, ANYTHING!" _The spirit wobbled on the unstable rubbish, obviously losing strength.

"_If I can hold it off for a few moments it will die_," she thought frantically. Hope blazed bright and warm. "I don't want to die here!" she hissed, and then her hand closed over something cool and hard. It felt like a smooth stone cylinder that was sunk into the heap. She had run out of time; the spirit was upon her she had to use it or nothing. With a cry, she pulled it from the heap and held it before her in both hands. It was longer than she expected; much longer and very heavy. It was pulling her downwards towards the spirit, making her slip down the slope. She locked her elbows and turned her head away. 

There was a thud and a squelch and something warm hit her cheek. After a few agonising moments of waiting to be hit with the axe, Chihiro turned back to look the spirit. It was impaled on the thing she held in her hands. Silver blood ran down the object and over her hands, painting everything. She was spattered all over with it. The axe had fallen from its hands and its vacant eye sockets had sunk into black nothing. It was dead and she was holding it up. Chihiro swallowed and pulled her makeshift weapon from the spirit's body. It slumped and tumbled down the slope.

Chihiro could hardly believe she was alive; she was alive and that was a good thing but she could not decide what to do next. She felt a little lost and hollow, the peril was gone and left a vacuum in its place. She mentally ran over what had happened, the voice in her head had puzzled her, it sounded familiar but... The answer eluded her. Her attention turned to what she still held in her hands. It was long, thin and sharp except the part she was holding which was thicker and more rounded.

"_Katana,"_ her mind supplied.

"_I must truly be blessed if I can find a sword in a pile of rubble,"_ she thought slightly cynically. The entire sword was covered in silver blood. She stuck it into the heap, hoping to use it as support to help her down. An irreverent way to treat it, perhaps, but she did not fancy falling and landing on a dead shadow spirit. As she changed her grip on it she noticed a flash of green between her fingers. She steadied herself and let go of the sword. The hilt was made of carved jade which had been what made the weapon so heavy. The jade was carved into the shape of a flying dragon with a ball of obsidian in its mouth. It took her a moment to recognise it; the last time she had seen it had been months before when it had almost killed her.

It was Haku's sword.

An hour later, Linca found Chihiro sitting on the pile of rubble. She had been furious when she found Chihiro's old room empty, but she had then seen the fresh spirit blood in the corridor and fallen into a complete panic. She saw the dead spirit at the bottom of the miniature mountain of rubbish and put together what must have happened. Chihiro seemed uninjured but was acting strangely. She had ripped off the sleeve of her t-shirt and was using it to clean a large dangerous looking sword that was carefully balanced on her lap. Linca, being small and agile scrambled up the slope without incident and sat beside her sister. It was strange to see Chihiro in human's clothes; they made her look older somehow.

Chihiro continued to methodically wipe the blood off the blade and Linca finally recognised it. It was a sword that should have killed her.

"Chi," said Linca quietly. "How are you able to touch that?"

"I don't know," said Chihiro in a dead voice. "But somehow... somehow I think it wants something from me...it decided to save me." Linca nodded but worried about her sister. She had felt the same the first time she killed; numb and detached. Though for her it had been worse as it had been someone she knew.

"How is your mother?" the spirit asked, eager to distract the human.

"Better," was all Chihiro said. Linca got the impression that Chihiro was angry at her. She fell silent. Chihiro continued to clean the sword and when she was finished she asked Linca to help her find the scabbard. It did not take long and once located, Chihiro slid the blade home and undid her belt. She looped the scabbard ties around her belt then buckled it back on. The sword clashed violently with the jeans and ripped shirt Chihiro was wearing but Linca thought it better not to comment. Finally, Chihiro turned to her sister and spoke.

"I can't talk to Haku. I know roughly in which direction he is but he is very far away from me. It's like we are cut off." Linca winced.

"We should get you back to your room," said the spirit firmly, starting to descend the slope. Chihiro grabbed at her hand, preventing her.

"Would you mind telling me what happened to my mate, Linca?" asked Chihiro lightly, but her grip tightened meaningfully. Linca sighed and looked at her feet. She had been dreading the question but was there ever a time to give someone bad news?

"He's not here, Chi," she said at last. She looked down into her sister's beautiful brown eyes. "They took him." She waited for Chihiro to assimilate the information.

"And who are _they_?" Chihiro asked quietly.

"We don't know," whispered Linca. "But they said they were here in Yubaba's name." Suddenly impotent rage flooded the spirit and tears flowed down her grimy face leaving clean tracks. "They came because they knew he would be weak!" she spat. "Our defences were low and he was but a shadow of himself. It was all planned, even your mother's illness, I think. He fought like only a dragon can and the sky rained with the blood of our enemies. But there were too many of them; they hurt him and caught him in a net and took him away. They taunted us lower spirits but we could do NOTHING!" she shouted. "They took your mate, Chihiro; my brother; and I will never forgive them!"

Chihiro looked at the enraged spirit and felt cold fingers of dread run over her heart. He was gone; taken from her. Things started to fall into place. What she had felt in her mother's kitchen had been the pain and anguish he had felt at the moment of his capture; the mating bond was strong enough for her to feel it across worlds. He could not answer her calls to him because he was either unconscious or incapacitated magically. When she had been paralysed by fear it had not been his voice that motivated her into action but the next best thing; his river had spoken in his place. Even his sword seemed bent on protecting her, but Chihiro was not going to trust the vicious blade.

He was gone. She tried to comprehend it. It was hard, but the gap in her mind confirmed Linca's words. She had no awareness of him except that he was south of her and very far from her, barely a glimmer in her consciousness. He was gone.

"Oh," said Chihiro at last. Then another thought hit her. "This is my fault."

"I did not say that!" protested Linca.

"You did not have to; it is because of me that he was weakened. I brought him down." She stared at the sky visible through the ragged hole. "Maybe this is the curse. All human and spirit relationships are cursed, but that did not matter to us."

"Chi, you can't think like that!" sobbed the sprite.

"But it's true; I have been his ruin," Chihiro replied calmly. The yawning emptiness inside her felt like it would consume her when she said those words. Linca looked horrified and was at a loss for what to say, her tears just fell faster. Chihiro suddenly felt very tired.

"I need to lie down," she whispered. "I need time... to think... just time." She slid down the slope and began picking her way up the corridor.

"Chi...?" Linca called after her, her voice heavy with tears.

"_Go away, Linca, just go away,"_ Chihiro thought. She could not be near the distressed spirit right now, she needed quiet and solitude. She found her room and closed and locked the door behind her. She drew the drapes and sat in the dark on her old bed. There were a few knocks at the door but she ignored them. Time flew past and it was soon dark outside. Chihiro crawled under her covers. She felt neither hunger or thirst, sorrow or rage. 

She felt frozen inside. He was gone. The sword jabbed her side as if trying to snap her out of her doze. She simply removed it and let it clatter to the floor. Sleep claimed her and she wearily welcomed the oblivion it brought. But her dreams were filled with echoes and silver blood. That and a dark shadow that rejoiced in her suffering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm loving all the Kudos AO3, thank you so much. Just so you know, I'm launching my first books this year. Come check out my website at annavelfman.com and sign up to my mailing list to be kept informed of my progress. Thank you all!


	14. Aftermath

Chihiro refused to come out of her room for three days. She hardly slept and only drank water from the taps in her bathroom. She did not eat; she could not face the thought of food at all. She began to hear the bathhouse coming back to life. Repair crews hummed through the night and voices echoed in the corridor during the day. It gave her little comfort that someone was taking care of the place. What did it matter to her now? Looking back, Chihiro knew what she must have experienced was something akin to shellshock. She had shared so much of herself with Haku that the edges of their consciousness had started to blur; where Chihiro ended and Haku started had been a fluid thing, they were in truth part of each other. Now he had been ripped from her, and her shocked mind needed the time alone to adjust.

Linca, Rin and Meeka all tried to get her to open the door. In gentle, sympathetic tones they called to her, telling her they would not force her to come out but she should eat. Chihiro would just ask them quietly to leave; eventually she gave up responding altogether, leaving them to worry. Yes, she was being ridiculously selfish and there was plenty of work she could have turned her hand to but she could not shake off the feeling of emptiness for long enough to want to leave the room.

On the third day, something changed. Chihiro was curled up in the windowsill watching the early summer grass of the plain dance, a sea of lush green tips blown before a warm breeze. Strange grazing animals like oxen browsed the grass and predators hunted their herds, taking the young the old and the weak. Chihiro felt her nail catch on something and she hissed as a splinter worked its way under the nail. She pulled out the sliver of painted wood and squeezed the digit to make sure there was no wood left in the puncture wound. She sucked away the blood, crushing the thought that _someone_ would be getting a little crazy about now if he was here. She looked down to see what had hurt her.

Between her feet, the paint had started to come loose and bubble as the summer air turned humid and damp seeped in. The paint was not old but it was damaged. Someone had scratched characters into it. Chihiro turned her head so she could see the scrawl.

"Chihiro Ogino's home is here," the sill declared proudly to the world. Chihiro gasped. Her hand fluttered to her mouth and her bottom lip trembled. She remembered writing those words, carving the characters into the wood with her now lost hair sticks, trying to leave part of herself behind in case she was not bonded to the spirit world.

That evening she had become the first human bonded to this world in centuries. That and a white dragon announced to the spirit world that he loved her. For her own obtuse reasons and because she had a romantic streak, the goddess of the spirit world had bent ancient laws and bonded her. The memories flooded her and for a moment Chihiro thought she would drown in them. With the memories came emotions; hope, fear, need, want, lust and above all love; love that had pulled together a human and a dragon and bound them so tightly they could not live properly without each other. Without Haku Chihiro would exist, but not live; life would lack colour and depth. Tears pricked Chihiro's eyes and she hiccupped forlornly.

Haku was far from the only thing she loved in this world; there were her sisters, her Granny, her friends and she loved the life she lived here. She loved the spirit world with all its cruelties and prejudices; it was not that different from the human world, it just had that extra layer of mystique that had drawn her to it.

"Chihiro Ogino's home is here," she whispered and she started to weep, grizzly heart-sore weeping.

"I want him back," she sobbed. "I want him here right now!" Chihiro had thought she had known everything it meant to be in love with someone. She did not know this love, this howling, hungry emptiness that demanded something from her but she was unsure what. Her soul felt like it was being shredded but somehow she was enduring it, somehow she was still breathing when she felt like she should be dead.

Something clattered, making her jump and she looked in the direction the sound came from. Haku's sword had fallen from the bed. Chihiro wiped at her eyes and frowned. She had put it in the middle of her bed; odd that it should have fallen to the floor. The black ball in the hilt of the sword glinted at her as if taunting her; Chihiro's frown deepened to a scowl. She got down off the windowsill and bent to pick it up. The sword jerked and slid across the floor away from her. Chihiro gasped and jumped back.

The sword lay still. Chihiro knew that the vile weapon was so packed full of her mate's magic that it was almost sentient. The first time she had touched it she could have sworn she felt its glee as it slowed and then stopped her heart. When she had used it to defend herself she almost thought she could feel the blade sing for joy be handled by someone it recognised, she definitely remembered the sensation darkening as it bit into the flesh of the shadow spirit. She eyed the beautiful weapon suspiciously.

"_I must be insane_," she thought. _"I am about to talk to an inanimate object." _

"I know you don't like me," she said, her voice still rasping from crying. "I am hardly fond of you either, but you are his sword and he made you so I suppose I respect that... And you saved my life; for what it is worth, I'm grateful." She approached the weapon and bent to pick it up.

"I can't leave you on the floor, you will get damaged," she murmured in a way she hoped might placate the bit of metal. She grasped it by the scabbard and lifted it up. The thing seemed heavier than ever and she had to use both hands to lift it. The blade vibrated in the scabbard and Chihiro clutched it to her, frightened she would drop it.

"_Want... him... back,"_ a low whispered voice echoed through her mind. Chihiro squeezed her eyes shut and did her best not to listen.

"_Mate of my creator... avenge him,"_ the insidious voice hissed.

"I can't," Chihiro whispered, tears beginning to leak from her eyes again. "I don't know where he is, or even who has him and I..."

"_TOO WEAK!"_ the sword spat, interrupting her.

"Yes," Chihiro admitted.

"_You will avenge him,"_ the sword repeated.

"I told you I don't know how, I..." White-hot pain suddenly shot up Chihiro's arms. She squealed and tried to drop the sword but it seemed fused to her fingers.

"_You will avenge him!"_ the sword sang in her mind. _"I will drink the blood of your enemies and we shall take back what is ours." _

Chihiro screamed and finally dropped the weapon. She fell backwards and hugged her arms to herself. Her forearms burned as if scalded. Lip trembling, she sat up and looked at her right arm; running up her arm from wrist to elbow was what looked like a tattoo. It was a dark blue zigzag line that was indelibly etched into her flesh. The pattern was repeated on her other arm.

"They look like bolts of lightning," she whispered with confused wonder.

Just then the door that had kept the world at bay for so long shattered into a million splinters. A worried-looking Linca hastened over the remains of the door and stepped into the room.

"I know you want to be alone but I heard you scream and..." She trailed off. Chihiro saw her take in the dropped sword and herself huddled in the corner, hugging her arms. She could see Linca put two and two together and arrive at nine point four. Linca's white eyes widened and she stormed across the room and grabbed Chihiro by the front of her shirt and dragged her to her feet.

Chihiro choked back her explanation in surprise as she watched Linca raise her delicate blue hand, cut and blistered from repair work, and deliver a stinging blow across Chihiro's left cheek.

"How dare you!" Linca hissed in a disgusted tone. "This was the answer you came up with after three days to think about it?" The spirit's body shook with rage; she closed her eyes and her hands clenched into fists. Suddenly she gave up trying to control her temper. Her eyes snapped open and they were completely black. All the pent up worry and struggle of the last few days was now released onto her sister.

"For all that is Holy!" she roared "I never met such an appallingly dense race of humans in my entire life as the one you come from! There is no such thing as an honourable death Chihiro and don't you forget it!"

"Wha-!" Chihiro squeaked.

"Of all the unfeeling and ungrateful things to do! Did you consider anyone else at all? Rin and I have been worried sick about you but you..." Linca's tirade was interrupted by a low throaty chuckle from her sister.

"I'm sorry, but I fail to see what you find so amusing about this, human!" the spirit ranted.

"I'm sorry, Linca..." said Chihiro still laughing. "I did not intend to kill myself."

"Then what were you doing?" snapped the sprite. Chihiro stopped laughing and simply looked at her sister. In that look, Linca could see all Chihiro had been through in her solitude but most of all she saw her sadness; deep penetrating sadness.

"Chi," she breathed. Chihiro shook her head, not wanting to be consoled. She held out her arms to show Linca the marks. The spirit frowned at them, puzzled, but from the doorway there was a gasp of recognition.

"Da' tant." Rin whispered. The spirit woman's dark eyes were round and frightened.

"Huh?" said Chihiro and Linca together. Rin stepped gingerly into the room and with a trembling hand touched the marks on her sister's arms.

"Rin," Chihiro asked softly, "do you know what this is?"

"It...it's..." stammered Rin. Then she sighed and pulled at her rough work tunic. Chihiro and Linca glanced at each other, nonplussed, as Rin lifted her tunic to reveal a similar mark running up her taught stomach. The lightning bolt was interrupted by a flattish depression which Chihiro assumed was the non-bonded spirit's equivalent of a belly button.

"I have had this mark for as long as I can remember," said the spirit. "It is the mark of Da'tant."

"But what is it?" whispered Linca, touching Rin's mark.

"It is a warning to others, a warning that you are on a holy mission and that you will let nothing get in your way."

"What mission?" asked Chihiro.

"Normally the mark is bestowed on one seeking justice or more often, righteous revenge."

"Revenge?" echoed Chihiro weakly. Rin nodded and her hand fell to her stomach.

"I can't remember my mission, but I'm fairly sure it was something to do with why I came here. I will never seek my justice or get my revenge because I can't remember the crime against me. You, however, have two marks, meaning your mission is two fold."

"I have no idea what I am supposed to do," the human whispered. She held up one arm. "One of these is something to do with Haku and the sword is in a rage and ordering me to get him back." She held up the other arm. "But what is this for?" Rin shook her head.

"Maybe you have to kill the one responsible for all this," muttered Linca darkly.

"You are not helping," snapped Rin. Linca bristled at her tone.

"The universe is a cold, unfeeling place. How do you know that her vengeance does not involve murder?" Linca snorted.

"I'm not going to kill anyone," said Chihiro firmly. "But how on earth am I even going to attempt to get him back? I don't know where he is or how far away, or who has him. I'm only human; how can I be expected to do this without help?"

"Only human?" said Zeniba's voice from the doorway. "Now that is an oxymoron if I ever heard one." The old witch looked tired and there was a half-healed cut across her forehead. Her blue frumpy dress had tears in it but it was clean and washed. She probably had not had time to repair it. Zeniba smiled as Chihiro stared at her.

"No power to spare on making myself presentable I'm afraid," she chuckled. She shuffled into the room and Chihiro saw Zeniba was carrying the bag she had brought from the human world. The witch dropped the bag at the human's feet and it rattled with broken glass.

"It's not all shattered," said the witch happily. "And who says you will not have help to do this?" The witch took Chihiro's face in her papery hands and took a deep breath.

"Let's get a better look at you now those pesky hair sticks are gone. They really were troublesome my dear." Chihiro felt magic start to build in the room and tensed up.

"Don't fret," said the witch calmly. "I just want to see things more clearly. Just relax; I won't be more than a moment." Chihiro's tac'tal grew hot and the old purple band on her wrist glowed.

Suddenly what Chihiro had always assumed to be a large wart on the witch's face, low down on the centre of her forehead, snapped open to reveal a large violet eye behind it. Chihiro shuddered and her sisters gasped. Zeniba's wicked nails dug into Chihiro's skin a little.

"Be still," she hissed. "And let me look."

Chihiro could not help staring at that eye and soon she was aware of very little else; the eye looked through her and beyond, seeing what she never could; past, present and future all merged together in a great loop and her tiny place in it. The eye snapped shut and Zeniba let her go.

"It seems that the prophecy that I was witness to has, at last, come into play. As I suspected, your bonding here has set in motion things that were foreseen millennia ago," sighed the witch. "Your path is still uncertain, Chihiro, it is up to you how you proceed but you will come up against a number of obstacles that only you can surmount. Getting the dragon back is only half the challenge and to be honest the lesser part. Fulfilling the prophecy is your true goal."

"How can I fulfil a prophecy I know next to nothing about!" Chihiro cried. Zeniba shrugged.

"I wish I could tell you but I swore an oath of secrecy, one that I fear that my sister may have broken."

Chihiro had not felt so lost since learning of Haku's kidnap. She could almost feel fate starting to press down on her. The petty matter of a lost love was nothing in the great scheme of things. But if she was lucky she might be able to placate fate and gain her mate back, thus her arms bore two marks.

"Well!" said Linca brightly immediately lessening the tension in the room. "This is far too much to think about sober." She had been rummaging around Chihiro's bag and found an intact bottle of vodka. "I say we all have a drink and something to eat then think about the heavy stuff."

Chihiro smiled. Linca took a long pull from the bottle, gulping the liquid as if it was water. She handed the bottle Chihiro and Chihiro sighed gratefully; a drink was just what she needed to steady her nerves. She tipped the bottle to her lips but before she could drink Zeniba snatched it off her.

"Just tea for you I think, Chihiro." The look Chihiro gave the witch could have shattered stone.

"Why?" growled the human.

"Because you've starved yourself for three days; drinking on an empty stomach is never good for you, and also it might hurt the baby," came the kind reply. It took Chihiro almost a full minute to grasp what Zeniba meant. Linca's mouth was hanging open and Rin had tears in her eyes but Chihiro failed to understand why until the word she needed floated to the surface of her mind.

"Pregnant?"

"You are only about a month gone," said Zeniba gently. "And it will be about five months until you feel anything. I can only guess at the gestation period, but I think it will be about fourteen months." Chihiro was not listening.

"I can't be pregnant I have an infertility spell on me!"

Zeniba smiled at her sadly. "Sometimes life finds a way around such measures; it's rare but it happens."

"Well, you could have warned me," muttered Chihiro, her mind still playing catch up.

"Is this stupid fate of mine part of this too?" Zeniba nodded.

Rage filled the human; she had been manipulated at every turn, but had no idea who was pulling the strings.

"So basically I'm knocked up, mate-less and have a prophecy to fulfil?" No one answered her.

Chihiro started to laugh, and found she could not stop. It was a bitter and twisted laugh of despair.

"Well, at least my critics can not say they told me so!" On a whim Chihiro lifted her bag up and tossed it out of the window.

"The Vodka!" cried Linca.

"The Chocolate!" cried Rin.

Chihiro picked up Haku's sword and felt almost immediately better to feel its weight in her hand. The human grinned to herself maliciously and swung the sheathed sword experimentally, then she tipped the sword up and pointed it at the ceiling.

"If you don't show yourself in ten minutes I'm burning this hovel to the ground then me and this sword are going to dish out some "righteous vengeance" without guidance!" Chihiro shouted at the ceiling. "Do you hear me?" she screamed. "You owe me for helping you bring your whelp into the world!"

No one thought to correct Chihiro for her blatant blasphemy, after all, she was holding a very powerful sword and was in an evil mood, and none of the spirits could blame her; they could only guess at how she must be feeling. Zeniba wanted to hug the child and let her cry but it seemed Chihiro was done with tears. The marks on her arms and the trauma of having her mate ripped from her were fanning the flames of her anger. Zeniba guessed it would be a while before she even accepted she was pregnant. Zeniba held out her hand and called Chihiro's name softly, but before she could get near the human, the sword swung round to point at the witch.

"Don't touch me," Chihiro hissed.

"Chihiro, please," said Zeniba carefully. "I know you are hurting, but insulting a goddess is not the way to..."

"I don't need your sympathy," Chihiro snarled. "What business is this of yours anyway? Why do you constantly feel the need to take an interest in my fate?"

"I'll admit that I have meddled where perhaps I should not have," sighed Zeniba. "However, I know that if I did not help guide you in the right direction, the prophecy could have fallen upon you before you had allies or an awareness of your future. The tools the gods choose tend to be used harshly or even broken. I did not want to see that happen to you."

"Why?" Chihiro snapped. "Why should you care as long as I do what I am supposed to?"

"You're my granddaughter," said Zeniba, holding her hands out, palms up.

"No, I'm not," Chihiro growled. "I have no grandmother; my father's mother died before I was born and my mother's mother died before she was even married." The tip of the sword wavered a little. "That makes you just a lonely old woman who meddles, doesn't it?"

The witch's eyes flashed with annoyance but she reigned in her temper. The girl was half mad with hunger and shock and the sword she was holding was designed for a dragon to master, not a human. Zeniba could sense that it was just itching for an excuse to shed blood and Chihiro was in no frame of mind to resist it. Zeniba smiled fondly at her; she was doing well considering.

"You are overtired and have not eaten or you would never say such things to me."

"You think so?" Chihiro scoffed. "Maybe I have wanted to say these things for a while."

"Perhaps," said the witch with a smile. "If that is the case then perhaps I'll tell you what you want to know but first let me ask you a question. Have you ever wondered why I helped you as a child?" The sword tip dipped a little.

"I don't know," said Chihiro at last. "But you nearly killed Haku." The sword tip inched up again.

"And I could have, if I wished," said Zeniba. "But when you broke the spell I decided to forgive him; but only because you asked me to. The golden seal could have ended you both back then, why would I be so merciful towards you?"

"I don't know," said Chihiro and the sword lowered slightly. "I never really thought about it." The sword's voice in her head rasped on about the witch manipulating her but Chihiro managed to ignore it.

"Well," Zeniba sighed. "That is very unusual, you normally question such things. But I believe I may have an explanation."

"Oh really?" drawled Chihiro in a very Haku-like way. "Then by all means, enlighten me."

"The reason is that family help each other and family members expect help from each other."

Chihiro was confused; the sword lowered a little more.

"I don't understand."

The witch's large mouth broke into a genuine smile. "When the water horse that insists on hanging around Haku's home told you that you had spirit blood in you, did it never occur to you that you might be related to someone you knew?"

"What are you saying?" breathed Chihiro, then her temper flared again. "For once just tell me straight and don't wrap it up in riddles!"

"I am saying that there is a reason this world appeals to you so much, that there is a reason I helped you that day when you came begging for Haku's life in my kitchen. There is a reason that you fell for a dragon and a reason that you now carry his child, despite precautions," said Zeniba calmly.

"Well, what?" Chihiro snapped.

"You really are my granddaughter, Chihiro," Zeniba sighed. "We are blood relations."

"That's not possible." Chihiro breathed.

"It is," said the witch firmly. "And I will tell you how if you put down that sword." The sword clattered to the floor, falling from Chihiro's numb fingers.

"Yes, tell us all, if you would," said the Lady's voice from the window. They all turned to look at the goddess who was showing off her new slim figure in an impossibly tight black velvet dress.

"You have kept your secrets for a long time, witch. Tell the poor girl before she falls over, she looks awful." The Goddess turned her violet gaze on Linca. "You there, get us some food then we can all have a nice chat." Linca scuttled off as if burnt, closely followed by Rin. The Goddess turned to Chihiro, clearly displeased.

"You could have been a little more reserved in your address, even if you were angry at me."

Chihiro had no fight left in her. She sank to the ground and arranged her legs so she could sit.

"Just tell me what I need to know so I can decide what to do," she whispered. The Goddess smiled warmly.

"Food and a bath first; you look and smell dreadful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been getting a lot of comments lately from readers old and new. Thank you all so much for reading! It makes my day when people take the time to tell me how they feel about my work. I've been working very hard this last month and I have decided to prepare both my fantasy series and paranormal series for publication. I'm talking to editors and cover artists, it's all exciting but time-consuming. My podcast is also gaining a listeners, which is fantastic!
> 
> I just wanted to say thank you all for the support. Without you, I would not be thinking of turning my writing into a business. My courage books will forever be free and here for you all to enjoy whenever you wish. If you want to keep up to date with my progress then please consider joining my mailing list at annavelfman.com


	15. Inspiration

Haku woke with a start. He blinked in the gloom and allowed his eyes to adjust. He ached all over and having his hands pinned to the wall above his head was less than comfortable. At least he could sit down, but he could not stand. He had been in this position for over four days; it hurt but it was bearable.

He had already counted the black stone blocks the walls were made up of six times; he had counted as high he could before he lost concentration or indeed consciousness. If he could remember what he got up to he would try to beak his record, if not he would start again anyway. He was incredibly bored. He usually had so much going on the back of his mind through his connection with his river but now he was cut off from it he was at the ultimate loose end.

He looked around his cell again; four black stone walls and a sand floor. The chains around his wrists were inlaid with obsidian of the highest quality. The spells on it had been cast by a master and prevented him from using any of his power. But being cut off from his river and his mate hurt even more than the cramp in his arms and the gaping wounds on his head and in his abdomen.

He growled to himself as he remembered the iso flax net that that one of the mercenaries had thrown over him, immediately weakening him. If he had been in top condition he could have shaken off the artefact easily. The insidious plant the net was made from could be as powerful as chloroform was to a human when it touched a dragon's scales. Thus dragon kind destroyed the plant whenever they found it. He had thought it extinct; someone must have had that net hidden away for the best part of a thousand years.

In the state he had been, the net had slowed him down long enough for an air spirit to find an opening and tear at his underbelly with its claws. While he ripped the spirit's throat out, another spirit hit him on the crown of his head with a war hammer. He knew he was too weak to fight on and win, so before the spirit hit him again he released the last of his power, just enough to protect his mate and maintain the opening to the spirit world he had created for her. After that he had passed out.

When he had woken, very surprised that he was still alive, he was still bleeding and he had reverted to his human form. He did not remember much except he was in this cell, tied up and Yubaba had been there gloating. He had been too light-headed and in too much pain to pay much attention to her, but he had nearly taken her hand off when she got too close. He was kind of glad he had not; he did not really want to know what the hag tasted like.

She had said something like he was going to be kept there until the separation from his river and mate drove him mad and killed him. Haku may have felt little better than pond scum at that moment but he was not about to roll over and die just yet. It would have been too much of an effort for him at that moment anyway. The gash in his stomach was slowly healing but the wound on his head was more serious. Dried blood still crusted on his face and it still bled occasionally. He was sure it was responsible for his occasional blackouts and nausea. Not that they were feeding him anyway, but his stomach seemed to have missed that detail when it made him retch for the fifth time that day. He thought he might have a skull fracture.

If he could have used his power he would have healed himself in days. But he had to rely on his body to sort itself out; it was a good strong body, he had constructed it well and it would eventually heal. He had been in a blood hazed rage when he first came back to himself fully two days previously, but it was too much effort to keep up. Now he just sat quietly and counted stones and numbers in his head, he had considered counting grains of sand but the tended to shift in the breeze from the tiny window above him. The dry air and sand only made him more uncomfortable; he was a water spirit and this was like a personal hell for him.

His heart ached constantly with worry for his mate. She would be back by now. How would she react when she realised he had been captured? If she had any sense she would run the bathhouse for him and wait for him to escape. Knowing his mate as he did, however, he knew she would probably take a few days to get over the trauma and then cook up some scheme with her accursed sisters and try to rescue him. He wanted to tell her to stay where she was, that he loved her and that he would find a way out. But he could not; the connection between them had almost been severed the moment the chains were put on him. Almost; he was still vaguely aware of her; she was far away and that was all he could tell, but if the connection was still there that meant the barrier spell in the chains had a weakness.

Haku kept trying to break the spells but they were like the iso flax net; they sapped his strength every time he tried it. They were strong and almost imposable to break. The spell literally wove an impenetrable barrier around his power, but it was not perfect.

As with anything woven, there were weaker areas. Haku thought that if he picked at the edges enough he may be able to unpick the weave enough to get some of his power through. So apart from counting, that was how he occupied himself; he weakly tugged at the fabric of the spells that held him. Every day he got a tiny bit stronger and every day his work on the spells seemed to progress a little bit further.

"It happened just before the bathhouse was built," said Zeniba into her cup. "Humans have always wondered into this world on occasion but I did not expect to encounter one myself. I was walking in the woods near the border when I saw him..." She sighed and put her cup down. "I knew he was human immediately, but despite the smell I thought he was the most beautiful creature I had ever beheld. I was young looking back then too; long blond hair and a tiny waist." She cackled to herself. "He did not stand a chance, really."

"You mated with a human?" said Linca in awe. "I mean if you were a spirit that traditionally associated with them or had some connection to their world..." she trailed off. "Not that I can't understand the attraction, I've had at least twenty of them! Picking up a wonderer and seducing him is classy."

Rin rolled her eyes. "I could never allow myself to fall for a creature with such a brief existence," she murmured and then blushed. "No offence, Chihiro."

"None taken," whispered the human. Zeniba had given her the lock of hair that Haku had cut from his head before the battle. She held it in her hand stroking it inside her pocket.

"_So soft,"_ she thought absently, then brought her attention back to the witch.

"My lover did not want to be bonded to this world; he was an eldest son and had a family to care for in the other world. So we conducted our affair when the border was open. After the spring equinox I discovered I was pregnant. I told him at the summer solstice and we both cried tears of joy. Again I asked him to bond to this world and perhaps, in time become my life mate. He refused." She sighed. "I was a little heartbroken but understood his loyalty to his family; he was head of the household; they would be destitute without him as there were no other male heirs. 10 months later I gave birth alone to a baby girl. She was my pride and joy, I could not wait to show her to her father; even my sister was enchanted with her and took her role as aunt very seriously." Zeniba smiled wistfully. "At the equinox, he came and saw her. We lived together for two weeks in family bliss, then the day came he was due to return. I awoke to find both him and my daughter gone."

"What!" squeaked Linca.

"Oh, he left me a note," said Zeniba sarcastically. "He said that he thought his daughter would be better off with him and he was going to raise her in the human world."

"Was that all?" whispered Rin.

"Goodbye, wish things could have been different," said the witch. "I was grief-stricken, then my sister, who was really no less affected, talked me into stealing her back. With our combined power, I travelled to the human world. It took me two years to track him down. He and his family had fled to Hokkaido with her and he had married and had other children. I planned to take her but in the end, I could not, she had a woman she called 'mother' and a father she did not remember me. She was ageing quite quickly; she looked around five years old already; but I knew this would slow down when she matured, she was beautiful.

I knew she would outlive all her younger siblings as any half spirit would. It was going to be a very hard road for her growing up among people who did not know her true nature. She would have no understanding of her mixed blood and how it would mark her as different from other humans. I decided to keep an eye on her. So four times a year I travelled to the human world to check on her. She grew to be a beautiful but troubled young woman; her family saw her marry well into a landed family thus elevating her station. She had six children, three of whom died before they were five years old. Her remaining children grew up and her family started to die around her. When her own children started to die of old age I saw her distress; she looked around fifty though she was in her eighties. I thought it too late to intervene, to tell her what she was and that this was normal.

"By this time the bathhouse was built and the witch sisters had been punished for their arrogance before the gods." The Goddess rolled her violet eyes but said nothing. "I was ashamed of what I had become and for not protecting my daughter in the first place. I watched her suffer. As her great great grandchildren started to mature she had had enough. Convinced she was cursed, she committed suicide around the time of the Meiji revolution."

The silence in the room was absolute.

"I grieved for her, but I knew she had many grandchildren who would also have problems being part spirit. I watched and subtly guided her brood. Some even managed to stumble into the spirit world. Your grandmother included, Chihiro. I helped her get home despite wishing I could keep her with me; she looked so much like my daughter it nearly broke my heart. I could hardly believe it when your family stumbled into this world Chihiro. At first I did not want to be involved; you had infringed spirit world law and I could not overturn that. Besides I had a dragon to gut for theft.

"But you shook me from my self imposed confinement and made me become involved. You look like my daughter; I could not help but love you when you came begging me on Haku's behalf. I also saw how things were with you and the dragon and alarm bells started to ring. The prophecy is very ancient but it is very specific about a human/dragon relationship. I decided that if such a thing came to pass I would do all in my power to help you. Maybe that way I could atone for abandoning my daughter."

Chihiro could hardly speak. The witch had been through so much. She marched around the table to the witch. She stood before the crone, arms folded.

"I would have told you but there never seemed to be a right moment and you seemed so happy I did not want to burden you with my past," whispered Zeniba.

Chihiro slipped her arms around the witch and hugged her tightly.

"I love you, granny," she whispered. Zeniba wept at her words.

The goddess cleared her throat impatiently. "As much as I hate to break up this touching reunion between Grandmother and twelve times removed Granddaughter..." Chihiro looked up at the slightly peeved deity. "My time is limited; I have a "brat" now, remember!" Chihiro smiled, she could not help it.

"How is he?"

"Growing and eating solids already. He is speaking too. It seems his father has been broadening his vocabulary when I am not around; some of the things he says are quite shocking." The Goddess laced her fingers together before her and was suddenly all business.

"Which leads me to why I am here. I want my son to have the opportunity to grow up in a world that is not in turmoil. So I am going to help you instead of smiting you for your insolence like I should." Chihiro sat back down.

"Tell me this prophecy and I can get an idea about what I have to do," said Chihiro with a sigh.

"It's not that simple," said the Goddess. "There are rules. I cannot just tell you the prophecy; what good would that do? No, you must discover it for yourself; the journey is as important as the destination," said the Goddess cryptically. Chihiro's face fell.

"I can give you a hint," said the Goddess more brightly. "The one who foretold your destiny still lives and only he can help you."

"And who might that be?" asked the human tiredly. She got the feeling she was going to have to start writing everything down; things were getting more complex by the second.

The goddess threw her head back and sang in a sweet if slightly shaky voice.

"By a tree, near a river is a hole in the ground,

Where an old man of Arron walks around and around.

In his mind he is everywhere with no time or no night,

He cannot tell the difference twixt the wrong and the right."

"Huh?" said Linca.

"The old man of Arron prophesied Chihiro's fate. Find him and he will tell you what he saw for her."

"That's not fair!" protested the sprite. "Yubaba has probably blabbed what she knows to her allies by now, but we have to go and find some bonkers old spirit who walks in circles for a living and sees the future but does not know it?"

"Life is unfair," countered the Goddess. "As a displaced land spirit I would have thought you would be aware of this. If Yubaba has enlightened someone about the prophecy she has done so under strong magic. A vow of secrecy is not an easy thing to break, especially when it was to me the witch sisters swore."

"Fine," said Linca. "So to even be on a level footing with the bastards that attacked this place Chihiro has to discover the prophecy and then fulfil it?" The spirit sounded incensed.

"She will not have to do it alone, and the old man of Arron is not hard to find. The hole he wanders around in the song happens to be the biggest chasm in the spirit world."

"Yumulk gap," said Linca incredulously. "It will take three weeks to get there on foot! Humans can't fly!" The Lady held up her hand and Linca fell silent realising she had been speaking very freely before the deity.

"Finding the old man is neither here nor there at the moment. Chihiro is already marked that she is on a holy quest. Now she must choose three other people to inspire it."

"What?" Said Chihiro a bit baffled.

"Pick who you wish to go with you," said the goddess. "Three companions for you are traditional. You can gather others to you as you travel." The goddess sat forward. "Choose wisely."

"This could take some time," Chihiro murmured. She was about to start calculating the merits of her acquaintances when her ears were assaulted in stereo by her sisters shouting.

"I'M GOING!"

Chihiro smiled. "Don't I have a say in this?"

"NO," came the reply. Her sisters stared at her with such determination that Chihiro dare not refuse them.

"Who will look after the bathhouse?" she murmured.

"I will," said Zeniba. "So you have nothing to worry about."

"You need one more," said the goddess quietly. Chihiro bit her lip.

"_Who else?"_ she wondered_. "Kamaji? No, he'd never want to go. Bee-la? No, he is needed here."_ She was mulling it over when a paw fell on her shoulder.

"Mistress?"

"What is it, Meeka?" asked Chihiro. The spirit stood before her, then fell to her knees, hands clasped before her.

"Pick me, mistress. I beg you! I may be a low spirit and I may have little aptitude for fighting but who will tend to your needs when you travel if not me? There is master Haku's child to think about also; I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you, mistress." The yellow feline eyes looked at the floor and the ginger ears flattened themselves against the spirit's head.

Chihiro swallowed the lump in her throat and almost said yes, but she knew in her heart she could not. She stood and rested her hand on the cat spirit's head, just as Haku had done when he made the spirit Chihiro's servant. The ginger fur was soft and warm, just like a cat's. Chihiro resisted the urge to pet her knowing it would be taken as in insult by the proud little spirit.

"Meeka of the Izu Forest. You have served both myself and my mate well. I have been more than recompensed for your transgression against me. Now in my mate's name, I release you from my service before the allotted term of a year and a day."

Chihiro had no idea if she had said the right thing but she put as much of her will behind the words as she could. She was Haku's mate and whatever he bound she had the right to break. There was a flash of white light and then Meeka was knelt before her wearing a serviceable green kimono she had worn before she was made Chihiro's bondservant.

"Mistress!" Meeka breathed, her yellow eyes round with wonder.

"Not any more," Chihiro smiled at her. "To you now I'm just 'Chihiro', but as your friend, I wish to ask you a favour."

"Anything!" the wood spirit breathed.

"Take Rin's place as head of the domestic staff while she is gone." Meeka bowed so her forehead touched the floor.

"It would be an honour, mistress."

"Chihiro," corrected Chihiro. "Zeniba will need all the help she can get to repair the bathhouse and make it fit for business again. It has a vital role it will need to reopen soon or spirits will have to travel hundreds of miles to find a place to replenish themselves. I leave Zeniba in your care." The wood spirit bowed again.

"Well, come on!" complained Linca. "Put us out of our misery! Who will be number three?"

Chihiro turned to the Goddess.

"Does it have to be someone in the bathhouse?" she asked.

"No," replied the deity.

Chihiro pursed her lips and then asked.

"Do they have to be in the spirit world?" The Goddess frowned.

"It's a little irregular but as you are human I think it would be allowed. The law does not say it cannot be a human. I can bond them temporally under such circumstances. However, if you are thinking of picking one of your parents I would advise you against it, you need people with skills."

Chihiro considered at the goddess's words but her parents had never really entered her thoughts about the quest. Her mind was already made up.

"Don't even think about it, Chihiro!" said Linca. "I know he was in the army for a time but he really would not..."

"He'll be fine," snapped Chihiro, and looked levelly at the goddess's her brown eyes, hard and determined.

"I choose Scott," she announced. "I hope he forgives me for dragging him into all this but I need him."

"Well," said Linca with a small frown. "This will make things interesting. The poor boy lusted after you for weeks only to get knocked back. Now you're going to drag him into a world he knows nothing about to start on a quest to save said world and your mate."

"Yes," sighed Chihiro.

"That's just cruel," said Linca, her smile fading and she folded her arms. "Why not just give the boy a paper cut and rub salt in it! It would have the same affect! He has his pride you know!"

Chihiro put her hands on her hips and felt the marks on her arms throb. This was the right person to chose, some deep instinct told her that it was. She could not afford to take into account male pride and fair play. This was more important. She eyed the blue skinned spirit and glared at her angry white eyes and firm set mouth.

"If you want to come, Linca, you are going to have to do things my way, sister. I don't have to justify my decision to you but as Scott was a good friend of yours I will do so."

Linca's eyes widened at Chihiro's tone but she said nothing.

"Do you know how to find food in the wilderness? Do you know how to build shelter so you stay warm and dry at night? Do you know how to purify water?" Do you know how to navigate without a map?"

"This is the spirit world, Chihiro, not the human world! This world is not the same and things such as clean water do not concern me..."

"They concern me!" snapped Chihiro. "I am human and can easily die from impure water. This world is not so different from the human world. There are woods, hills, forest, mountains and deserts. I need to know how to survive, who knows where these will take me." She indicated to the marks on her arms. "What's more I'm pregnant, which means the clock is ticking before I'm too fat to be of any use. We both know that Scott has had survival training, he told us himself. He went climbing mountains in his spare time and spent two years in the infantry and was going to become an officer."

"Yes and he left because he broke both his legs out on exercise, he may not even be fit enough for all this!" yelled Linca

"He can help us," Said Chihiro stubbornly. "We have to do this as quickly as we can, we need him. Even if he does not know this world he will adjust I'm sure. He was the only human who ever believed that I had been to the spirit world. Rin, you and I can help him adapt after he is bonded."

Linca sighed, defeated.

"Well when you put it that way, I guess you are right. I don't know how to keep a human alive on a long arduous journey. Rin and I can go for weeks without food if we have to and if we are travelling fast that means travailing light and limited food rations for us. I did not think things through and as you pointed out, you'll be eating for two. I'm sorry I accused you of choosing him frivolously." Chihiro nodded to her penitent sister.

"You were only defending your friend; I won't get angry at you for doing that," she mumbled and turned to the lady.

"I choose Scott Mulvey."

The Goddess smiled.

"I've already sent someone to get him."


	16. Sir Doormat

Scott sighed and switched off the television. It was raining outside again so going out with the dogs right now was not appealing to him. He had been living at home now for over a year, ever since he left Japan. Or rather, since he was implicated in aiding a criminal and asked to leave the country. He had been glad to come back to his family but he had never bothered returning to university in St Andrews to finish his languages course. He had no interest in study anymore. The castle had not changed at all in his absence. 

Linca had often teased him about the fact that his family were landed gentry and he was the son of Laird Mulvey. His father never used the title and Scott was his third son and would inherit nothing. It was not as if the family were rich anyway. The castle had two turrets but was more an ornate manor farmhouse. Some mad ancestor of his had built the place in 1620. The estate that surrounded the monstrosity was very small and all the tied property had been sold off before the Second World War.

That had not mattered to Linca who had constantly introduced him around as "Sir Scott," apart from when she introduced him to Chihiro.

"_Chihiro, this is Scott, a very good friend of mine..."_ Scott had suspected the little Russian rascal was acting as matchmaker again. He had not minded in reality, Chihiro was adorable; shame she had never liked him the way he had her. The image of her lovely face disappearing down a dark hole and the sound of her body hitting the water had haunted his dreams. He must have been insane to let her go but the emerald he had found in his hand still sat by his bed. It reminded him that he had touched something that was not of his world and had given up something precious to it. 

On his return, Scott had worked in Glasgow for a while in the tax office. He had had a nice little rebound relationship with a fiery young woman with black hair who left nail marks on his back every night. It had not lasted long, but it had done much to get Chihiro Ogino out of his system. He had returned to the Highlands a few months later and had not left home since.

He sighed and stood up and tossed the remote onto the sofa. It would no doubt disappear down the back of the cushions and his oldest brother Cameron would blame his baby sister Elspeth and Elspeth would storm from the house and go to see her boyfriend in the village which meant Scott could watch whatever he liked on the TV later. Scott grinned at the prospect and shoved the remote down the back of the sofa just to make sure. 

He was so bored. Since his return he had not been able to concentrate on anything; his thoughts wondered and a gloomy apathy had settled on him. He had been helping his father and brothers around the estate to pay his way but felt no ambition to try and do something more with is life. Not like he once had.

He walked to the main hallway, the only really formal part of the house, careful to bend his head as he passed through the low doorways. Pictures of his ancestors graced the walls, changing from cracked oils to watercolours to photographs the further he walked up the hallway. At the end of the hall he turned right to a tight stone spiral staircase that was so steep and the steps so worn, that Scott was obliged to use his hands as well as his feet to climb them, a bit like a stone ladder. This was his favourite part of the castle Mulvey. He had played here as a child and when he was a teenager he had spent hours at the top of this turret just watching the world go by or "brooding" as his father had called it.

At the top of the stairs was a flat surface of worn cobbles surrounded by battlements that were too small and thin to be anything more than decoration. Another unhinged ancestor had added pillars of carved granite and a slate roof overhead. The rococo clashed hideously with the utilitarian harshness of the castle's original architecture but Scott liked it. The roof sheltered him from the biting Scottish wind and cut out all but the most persistent horizontal rain. 

He looked out over the grey-green moorland and sighed. He loved his home but the late spring weather was depressing. The moor was a riot of wildflowers in early summer and a lush verdant green thereafter until winter. Right now the moor was just a boggy mire that you could sink up to the knees in at certain points. The rain heavy clouds scudded across the rounded mountain tops that surrounded the glen, dropping their burden of water as they passed by. Scott sat with his back against the battlements and pulled his knees up to his chin. He shivered but the fresh air had lightened his mood.

"Why could I have not come from a family that owned part of southern Spain?" he complained to himself.

"Meow," came the unlooked-for reply. Scott looked up to see the family cat, Oscar, sitting at the top of the steps. Scott had found the stocky grey tabby trapped in a coal-scuttle when it was a kitten. Scott had not even been able to tell what colour it was until he had given it a bath. The cat had become a permanent fixture of the castle and terrorised the two Irish wolfhounds that belonged to Cameron as well as the local rodent population. Every now and again, something resembling a draught excluder would be left on the castle steps. Elspeth loved the cat dearly and so the rest of the family tolerated its antics.

Scott had never really liked cats but this cat seemed to like him judging by the amount of black and grey hair that was left on his bed.

"Yo, puss," he mumbled. "What are you doing up here?"

"Mow," said Oscar and proceeded to clamber between Scott's knees.

"Oi, careful!" Scott yelped as a paw came very close to doing him some damage; Oscar was not a light cat. Scott put his knees down and the cat settled on his lap and began to purr. Scott looked at the happy animal and grinned.

"I'm definitely coming back as a cat," Scott mumbled. "You have it so easy."

Claws dug into his leg and yellow eyes regarded him coldly.

"Actually old chap it's quite hard being me; your sister takes me to the toilet with her."

Scott wondered how he should react to having the family pet talk to him without even moving its mouth. Strangely he was not that disturbed by it; if water could talk to him why couldn't Oscar? Still he did not have to put up with it. He sighed and lifted the indignant feline off his legs.

"Sod this," he said, standing. "I'm going back to Glasgow; I need no more weirdness in my life." He moved towards the steps.

"Stop right there!" demanded the cat in its ridiculously English accent.

"Why should I?" asked Scott tiredly. "It's taken me months to get Japan out of my head and now things start happening here. I don't think I will stay if it's all the same."

"I have a message for you!" said the cat rubbing round his legs and very nearly getting stood on.

"I don't want to know," muttered Scott but stopped so his large feet did not crush the persistent animal.

"And what are you going to do in the city?" asked the cat. "Get a job and try to forget about the fact that you have no purpose anymore?"

Scott's blue eyes considered the cat. "So you are a psychologist as well as a mangy moggy?"

"I don't have mange!" protested the cat, its ringed tail flicking in annoyance. "I keep my coat in excellent condition, despite the demon Elspeth brushing it the wrong way all the time. Do you know how long I have to lick my coat after she's had had me in her clutches?"

"Sorry you've lost my interest," said Scott and started down the steps.

"Chihiro Ogino needs your help, Son of Mulvey!" howled the cat.

Scott stopped dead in his tracks. His heart sank. Deep down he had known that place was not finished with him yet. Local stories were full of people who had had contact with the other place. To one degree or another they were never the same. Legend said a mortal could pine to death after they had glimpsed the beings that lived for an eternity. It was different if they came to you or let themselves be seen but if you stumbled into their realm, your heart could be stolen. 

It had happened to Chihiro; Scott knew it had. She had never been happy in the human world, and now it was affecting him; a disease of the soul that caused you to want to be close to the ones that mortals should never get too close to. Whether it happened to everyone Scott did not know, but he knew that it was what ailed him. It had many names; it was called Longhiough locally. The legends said there was no cure; those affected either lived with it or died.

He turned and walked back up the steps.

"What are you?" he asked Oscar who had rolled over and was exposing his belly as if he wanted it tickled.

"Sit down old chap and let me tell you what I know." Scott nodded and sat beside the animal.

"Well, first thing I should say is: I'm not really a cat."

"That I could guess on my own," muttered Scott.

"Yes... well... quite," sniffed the cat. "I am a brownie but running around the house as a hairy little man may raise a few eyebrows."

"I thought brownies did the housework unless you saw them in which case they left?" said Scott sceptically. "This place is never clean. You are either lazy or a liar." The cat actually chuckled. It rolled over so it was sprawled on its side.

"What can I say? I hate housework. I do earn my keep however; you are rat-free and the east turret is not subsiding anymore."

"Fine so you are not a useless brownie," muttered Scott.

"As for the seeing me work business, I was never a traditionalist. Personally I would prefer an audience but your father would probably try to shoot me if he saw me in my real form."

Scott agreed with that, his father could be a little trigger happy. His mother had filled his twelve bore shotgun with sand and salt before she left him.

It had taken Ian Mulvey a week to clean it so it would work again.

"You mentioned a name; I never told anyone about that girl. How do you know that name?"

"Chihiro Ogino is famous throughout the spirit world, my lad," yawned the cat. "The first human in generations to bond with a spirit of power."

"Bond?" Scott knew he was not going to like this.

"She is his mate old boy. Who would have thought it? A mighty dragon taking a mortal for a mate in this day and age? Its implications are far-reaching; the human and spirit worlds may not be as far removed from each other as we all thought."

"Mate? You mean she is married?" said Scott quietly.

"Effectively, yes," said the cat with sympathy.

"Oh," said Scott. He was not sure what to feel about that. He was pleased she had found happiness, but in the arms of a dragon? How was that going to work? He was worried and a little putout.

"I did not even get an invite," he grumbled.

"Well you are mortal, my boy, she could not ask one who was not already connected to the spirit world to come. It is dangerous in its own way." Scott gave the cat a flat look.

"Don't placate me; she forgot about me, I understand that much," growled Scott. "And now she is in some sort of trouble and needs pathetic little me to help her out?" Scott was surprised by his own anger; he thought he was overall this.

"She is not so much in trouble... well she is, but..."

The cat tried again. "She needs you to join her quest."

"Quest? What is this the middle ages? Do I look like a knight?" spat Scott. "I rescued her once, what more does she want from me?"

The cat sighed and jumped on the angry young man's lap. It was almost impossible to stay angry when you had a purring lump of cat flesh on your lap, Scott decided, and calmed down. His anger drained away to leave hurt. He had been used and left with nothing but a green rock to show for it.

"You've had to play doormat until now my lad" purred the cat. "But it does not follow that you should have to do so now. You can turn down this quest; no one is forcing you to do it. But remember, you are not happy now; you will be even less happy when you start wondering what would have happened if you had accepted the quest." The cat stood and stretched, kneading Scott's lap.

"I would see it more as a journey of self-discovery if I were you. Most young people end up roaming the globe to find themselves. You can go one step further and roam another world. I think it will do you good; it would be better than moping here and getting in your family's way. They love you but the cloud of gloom you are constantly under is driving them crazy. Besides, you have more in that place than just an old flame." Scott glared at the cat as it hopped off his lap. It knew far too much of his connection to Chihiro for his liking.

"You mean Linca?"

The brownie nodded. "She is now the sister to Chihiro along with another spirit of unknown origin called Rin."

Scott had suspected that Linca was not all she seemed when he had seen an owl flying in and out of her bedroom window on a regular basis. Snowy owls were not native to Japan as far as Scott knew. Either J. K Rowling had had inside information for her famous books or Linca was not all she seemed. He kept quiet about it, hoping the girl might share her secret with him one day, then she and Chihiro had vanished. 

When Chihiro had told him her story at the psychiatric hospital she did not mention Linca by name but Scott guessed that the bubbly blond Russian who had been such a good friend to him was probably not even human. He had missed her.

Thinking a little more with his head than with his heart Scott considered what the cat had said. He really did have nothing better to do at the moment but he was not about to rush into this either.

"What is this quest; why isn't her mate helping her?"

The cat sighed and flicked its tail. "Her mate _is_ the quest, or rather part of it. He was kidnapped and she is now alone."

"So this it all about getting her mate back?" asked Scott incredulously.

"Well, that and saving the world, or some such nonsense," the cat yawned.

"Which world?" asked Scott. "It may sound cold but I really only care about one."

"Such a human attitude," scoffed the cat. "One cannot exist without the other; the spirit world is this world's natural law. Not a single thing would grow on this ball of rock without the power of those who attend to your soil, rivers and weather. If one fails they both do."

Scott chewed over that; he had never thought that the other place ever had a function before, but then again there was not a single thing that existed without fulfilling some role; why should the other place be any different?

"One more thing," said the cat, looking at him intently. "I would be not serving you properly as the castle's domestic spirit if I did not make you aware of all the facts before you make a decision." The cat stood up and arched its back in a lazy stretch.

"She is carrying the dragon's child." It yawned, and sat by his knees, paws tucked daintily beneath it.

"So she is pregnant and alone?" asked Scott quietly.

"Well, she has family to support her but yes, she is alone in this really."

Scott looked out at the grey sky. Even if he had been used and forgotten it did not mean he could abandon Chihiro when she needed him; his conscience would not let him. He really was a doormat.

"What does she need me for?" he asked in a resigned tone.

"She has a long journey; you know how to travel and not starve."

Scott nodded. His days in the army seemed very long ago; he had been barely 18. It had been something he had enjoyed but not something he wanted to make a career out of. Falling off the side of a mountain and breaking both tibia had given him the perfect excuse to leave. But he had learned much, including how to survive in the great outdoors.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll do it."

"Excellent!" gushed the cat. "I'll take you to the doorway right now and... Hey, where are you going?" Scott had stood and was heading down the steps.

"I'm not going until I have everything I need and I have said goodbye to my family," he said firmly and continued to descend the worn steps.

"But they are waiting for you!" yowled the brownie.

"And they can wait a bit longer," Scott's voice floated up from the stairwell. "I'm doing this on my own terms."

The cat purred to itself with pride; he might not have been the most active of brownies but he still loved his family. He trotted after the stubborn young man to find him rummaging in his wardrobe and dumping what he needed on the bed. Scott was not a tidy person but he did not take long to locate what he needed. Army greens from a surplus store joined black boots that were in a severe need of a polish, two lightweight shirts and half a dozen pairs of socks and underwear were piled on the bed.

"Is that all the clothes you need?" asked the cat, leaping onto the bed.

"I can wash them as I need them," Scott said distractedly. He shoved the clothes into a large hiking rucksack and hit the kitchen next. Enough dried food to keep half an army going was piled on top of his clothes, and a small wood-burning camping stove, matches and a set of pots that sat inside each other to save space. In the bathroom he stole soap and various medicines. He was accosted by the middle brother, Liam on the stairs back to his room.

The two were close, Liam being only two years older than Scott. They resembled each other strongly too, sharing the same hair and eyes. They were both tall, though Scott was slightly taller. When questioned, Scott spun a story about getting a call from a friend in Glasgow. He was going on a hiking trip, one of the party had pulled out at the last moment and this friend had offered Scott the place. Scott was a bad liar but if Liam suspected something he did not say so. He patted his brother on the shoulder and grinned.

"Glad to see you doing something again, we were really starting to worry about you."

Scott shrugged. "I've been a pain in the arse but I could not help myself." Liam laughed at this.

"You better get going before Dad gets back, otherwise we will have to do the whole "family night-in thing" and I'm sure we would all wish to avoid that."

Scott nodded and got back to his room and found his old hunting knife.

"You will need more than that," said Oscar, rubbing around his legs.

"I can't believe Liam is just letting me go no questions asked!" exclaimed Scott, almost hurt.

"That was down to me," purred the cat. "I can keep them nice and happy while you are away; they won't question your absence and they will even think you've sent them postcards."

Scott was not sure he liked the brownie manipulating his family so, no matter how benignly.

"You need a better weapon," said the cat. Scott looked at his knife. He had not thought of using the knife as a weapon at all.

"The only gun in the house is my father's," Scott mused.

"Oh please!" sneered the cat, jumping on his bed. "You really think a gun is going to be any use against the creatures of that place? They would probably spit the buckshot back out at you!"

"Then what?" asked Scott irritably.

"Follow me," the cat ordered and leapt gracefully to the ground, trotting out the door. Scott followed the cat to the main hallway. At the far end near the oldest pictures was the family coat of arms; two axes and a harp on a red field. Beneath it, crossed over each other were the Mulvey family's oldest heirlooms; two swords. One was a veteran of the battle of Culloden, pulled from the clutches of its dead owner by the local friar and returned to the victim's family. Scott had forgotten the name of who owned it. He had always liked the claymore and yearned to play with it as a child. His mother had told him the sword was unlucky and he should never touch it. The other sword crossed over the claymore was even older. The story attached to the weapon dated back to the 1300's, well before the family even owned land. 

There had been a son of a knight who saved a prince's life. The details were sketchy and the incident was not even formally recorded but family legend had it that this was the prince's sword, given to Scott's ancestor hundreds of years ago as a token of gratitude. Scott always thought that one of his Victorian ancestors had picked up the piece of junk and made the whole story up. The sword was certainly old; the blade was completely rusted and the hilt was plain and mostly rusted too. Any leather the weapon may have had on it had long ago rotted. It was not even a full-length broad sword, more of a roman looking weapon, short and pointed. Scott thought it was ugly. It did not matter; neither blade was battle-worthy and he could not use them anyway.

"Well?" said the cat.

"Well what?" asked Scott. "You don't expect me to choose one of these do you?"

"Not choose, take the older one," said the cat.

"I can't use that!" Scott gestured to the sword. "Even if it was new I could not use it!"

"Just take it," snapped the cat. Scott rolled his eyes and tugged the ancient blade from the iron wall brackets. It was heavy and stank of rust. Little brown and green flakes scattered on the ground.

"How the hell am I going to carry this around? It's worse than useless. Even if there is still metal under all this rust it won't be strong enough to use."

"If you want it to dislike you, keep insulting it," said the cat.

"It's a bit of metal," said Scott, "it does not have feelings to insult."

"Humans!" yowled the Brownie. "Just shut up and put it on the ground." Scott did so.

The tabby cat actually bowed its head to the blade. "Forgive him, Phyllis; he does not have a clue. You will have to educate him." Scott closed his eyes and shook his head.

"The sword is called Phyllis?" he said sardonically.

"Hush!" said the cat, reverently running his paw over the pitted blade. "This sword has been in your family for generations. During that time it has grown quite fond of you all and has offered its services to individuals on a number of occasions." The cat now had both paws on the sword and was brutally scratching the rust off; flakes flew everywhere. "You remember the story of your great, great grandmother defending the house from bandits?" Scott nodded.

"She killed two of them." He said, his father had always told him stories about his grandmother; she had been a real character

"It was more like twenty," said the brownie.

"What?" asked Scott.

"She never knew of course, the sword just used her so it could defend the family. Only two bodies were found; it vaporized the rest."

"I don't believe you," snorted Scott.

"You're talking to cat but you can't believe in an enchanted sword?" said the feline, glaring at him.

"Good point," Scott sighed, and bent to help the cat remove the rust. After peeling back layer upon layer of flakes, Scott saw something sparkle beneath his fingers.

"There is still metal under here?" he said surprise evident in his voice.

"Of course there is," scoffed the cat. "This is just a disguise Phyllis uses."

More and more metal sparkled at Scott; it was not silver in colour.

"This sword is bronze!" he gasped.

"She's old but shrewd," sneezed the cat.

"But bronze? How old is it?" asked Scott incredulously.

"I have no idea how old SHE is," said the brownie. "Enchanted swords don't age as normal weapons do."

The last of the rust flaked away revealing a thin brittle blade of bronze beneath.

"Come on, Phyllis, old girl," said the cat said with a chuckle. "Wake up; one of your brood needs a hand."

There was a blinding flash and Scott had to cover his eyes. When the spots had stopped dancing in his vision he looked down at the sword. It was still a short sword but it looked like new. The blade glowed with a buttery light and there was Celtic knotwork all over the wickedly sharp double-edged blade. The hilt was bronze too; just a plain cross piece and handgrip but the grip was bound with finely tooled leather with more knotwork symbols upon it. Scott gingerly took hold of the blade. The strangest of sensations washed through him. The blade was pleased to be held by him. It was definitely female and had a sleepy warmth to it. Scott could not help smiling.

"A darling isn't she?" chuckled the brownie. "She'll look after you. Good job you did not go running off with me straight away. She would have been mad if I had let you go alone. Honestly, she is so quiet most of the time I forget she is here. Not like the other one," said the cat glaring at the claymore. "He just wants to avenge his owner, it's completely mad." Scott eyed the claymore. Now it had been pointed out to him, maybe there was just the tiniest feeling of malice coming from the blade. He was glad he had never touched it.

"How did my family get this... her," he corrected himself, his blue eyes fixed on the sword in his hand.

"Let's just say the prince that was saved was not a prince of this world," said the cat with a wink.

The sword almost vibrated with delight; it was happy to be used again and it was a real treat to adventure in the spirit world. The sword spoke to him without words. It was more feelings, and they were not imposed on him either, he was just gently made aware that she was there. Scott liked her immediately; she was like some cheeky elder aunt; old enough to have wisdom but not tired of the world yet.

"Right," said the cat. "We are good to go. Tuck Phyllis through your belt; she has sense enough not to cut you."

Scott shouldered his pack and followed the cat out of the house. He turned for one last look at the house before he entered the glen. The tired old building was a happy place for the most part. Even in the pelting Scottish rain, it looked both ridiculous and charming. His brother Liam was waving enthusiastically from his bedroom window. Scott raised his hand in return.

"Don't worry old chap," said the cat at his feet. "I'll see that they are okay. You just make sure you come back to them, hale and healthy."

"I will," said Scott seriously."This is my home."


	17. It Begins

The young man who suddenly materialised in Chihiro's room caused quite a stir. Chihiro had forgotten how good looking Scott was. She had only ever had one person on her mind so she had not really been aware of Scott in that way. Now she was mated to that person and a reasonably experienced woman, she could view Scott objectively.

He had grown his hair a little, and it softened his features considerably, the dark red colour glowed in the lamplight. His strong jaw sported a small amount of red stubble; the look was jarring to Chihiro. Haku never had "inconvenient" hair; it shouted Scott's humanity more than anything else about him. His icy blue eyes swept around the room, carefully taking everyone in. He did not seem in the least bit phased by his trip.

He towered over everyone in the room. She knew there were lean muscles under those faded army greens he was wearing. She remembered the feel of him from when he had kissed her. Just thinking about that particular incident made her ache for Haku. Scott's eyes fixed on Linca.

"White hair suits you," he grunted in broken Japanese. He was obviously out of practice and his accent was crushing the words.

"You don't have to speak a tongue that is not your own in this world," said the lady in perfect English. She stood and approached him slowly, giving him time to get a good look at her. She held her delicate blue palms out and they glowed magenta. Scott raised an eyebrow. The lady touched her fingers to his pale throat.

"Now all will understand you, Son of Mulvey. Speak as you would to one of your countrymen and any here will know what you say." She stepped back from him and he unconsciously rubbed his throat.

"My lady," he whispered, finding his voice. He bowed low. "You have my thanks." His speech was much more natural, but is sounded to Chihiro as if he was speaking perfect Japanese. It had never occurred to her that the spirits around her might all be speaking different languages depending on where they came from, but all language barriers were null and void in the spirit world. If only the human world could emulate that, communication could be universal. The lady laughed at the human, her eyes shining.

"Well, you are a charmer," she chuckled. "At least some humans have manners," she said, looking out for Chihiro out of the corner of her eye.

Linca was itching for the deity to get out of the way. She tugged at her white locks and her white eyes gazed longingly at the tall man. Her small hands tugged at her stained work clothes and she was not the only one worried about her appearance. Rin was smoothing back her dark hair and seemed on edge. She was looking more at the floor than the visitor. At last, Linca could wait no more. She pushed past the deity and latched onto Scott, her head coming no higher than the middle of his chest.

"I missed you," she said into his shirt. "I never thought I would be able to see you again. I was worried about you."

"I was fine," he said, putting down his heavy backpack and hugging her back. "I survived perfectly well before non-humans started befriending me." Linca chuckled and stepped back from him.

"I wish I could have told you but..." she said, trying to explain, but Scott held up his hand, silencing her.

"What is done is done, I am here to help; you owe me no explanation." He said it stiffly, perhaps even coldly, but Linca deliberately ignored his tone.

"Let me introduce you around," she said enthusiastically. She took him by the arm and pulled him forward. He let the sprite lead him.

Chihiro felt like she was not even in the room as far as Scott was concerned, he had not looked at her once

"This is Rin," said Linca, standing him before the tall, beautiful spirit. "She is my adoptive sister," she continued. Scott bowed politely and Rin returned the greeting silently. Next Linca dragged him to Zeniba.

"This is Zeniba, one of the most powerful spirit witches in this area. She is also Granny to almost everyone she takes a liking to." Scott bowed again.

"I'll make sure to be extra nice to you then, madam," he said with just a hint of a grin on his stern features. Zeniba laughed, charmed by the human. Next Scott was introduced to Meeka and the Lady. Scott was not at all unsettled by the wood spirit's cat-like attributes and did not look in the least disturbed when Linca introduced the Lady as "the most powerful spirit in this world and Goddess of all us who live here." He simply bowed to them both, muttering polite greetings.

Finally, Linca dragged him around to where Chihiro stood.

"I don't need to introduce you two," she said quietly and backed away, as if she feared she would be dragged into something. Icy blue eyes locked onto rich brown ones. They looked at each other and the moments ticked by. Finally, Chihiro bowed.

"I am sorry," she said to the floor.

"Don't get all Japanese on me, Chihiro," he almost snapped. She straightened so quickly her vertebra in her lower back cracked. It had been the first crossword she had ever heard from him.

"Don't apologise to me, I am here of my own free will,"

"But..." Chihiro squeaked.

"You're worried about my feelings?" he asked incredulously. "Well, better late than never I suppose. Using me never bothered you before, why bother with such scruples now?"

Meeka hissed and her ginger tail lashed from side to side. Chihiro made a small hand gesture to the wood spirit to quiet her. Scott had every right to be angry and Chihiro was going to listen to everything he had to say, she owed him that much.

"I was worried about you," he said bitterly. "You fell into that water and I never heard from you again." He looked around the room. "Clearly I have been thinking of you more than you have been thinking about me." He folded his arms. "Was a message to tell me you were safe too much to ask?" he inquired sarcastically. "I know you were probably getting hot and heavy with the "thing" you were trying so desperately to get back too, but surely you could have found the time to get one message to me, just to set my mind at ease."

Chihiro did not know what to say. She knew she had been selfish, but it was only now becoming clear to her how selfish. She had been so in love, she had not stopped to think about the man who had aided her, not once. Scott had willingly helped her escape from the hospital, just like an old fashioned knight in shining armour. He did not even get the girl in the end and he had known that she did not want him. He had helped her anyway, and she had blithely accepted his help without any consideration of the pain she may cause him.

"I am sorry," she whispered. "I know I am taking advantage of your kindness, I know I treated you badly; I would not ask unless I was desperate."

"I guessed that," he grunted. "You would have no other reason to contact me unless it was through desperation." Chihiro bit her lip, she felt utterly miserable.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered again. What else could she say? There were no other words to express how horrified she was at her own self-centeredness. She had been so in love, she still was, but that was no excuse for treading on peoples' feelings.

Scott looked at her face. There were dark circles under her eyes, as if she had not slept, and her skin was pale. She was worrying herself sick about her partner he supposed. She was a fragile creature; it had been one of the things that had drawn him to her. His protective instincts began to plague him once more. He really was a pathetic creature; he could not stay angry at her when she was looking so distressed. He sighed, defeated by his own kind nature once again.

"I guess a mother has to do what she must to protect her family," he said quietly, looking at the floor.

Chihiro caught her breath; he knew. He knew she carried Haku's child and yet he had come to her aid. Maybe it was even because she was pregnant that he was here. She felt humbled and utterly despicable at the same time; this had seemed like such a good idea when he was still a world away from her.

"Enough of this," he said tiredly. "I've had a very strange day." He held out his hand.

"Tell me what you need me to do and I will do it," he sighed.

Chihiro opened her mouth then closed it again; she had not really planned beyond this point. Hesitantly she took his hand and shook it. She swallowed her pride and gave him a small smile.

"I'm sorry about your partner," he said gently. "I would have liked to have met him, and a little one needs its father around no matter how inhuman he is." Chihiro's lip trembled and pain hit her in the chest so hard it was almost like a physical blow.

"I don't deserve to even know someone like you Scott," she breathed.

"I know," he said quickly. "I'm the best pal anyone could have; obliging and unthreatening."

"Nonsense," said Linca, chipping in now the danger of an argument had passed. She took his arm and stood next to him her white eyes twinkling appreciatively at him. "You are 6 foot 5 of pure muscle," she said while running a finger down his bicep. "I would not want to meet you down a dark alley." A grin split her face and she moistened her lips. "Then again, that would depend on what you were going to do to me in that alley," she said huskily. Scott scowled at the diminutive spirit, then burst out laughing.

"You have not changed," he chuckled.

"Of course I haven't," Linca purred hugging his arm to her more tightly.

Chihiro could not help smirking. Linca had to crane her neck to look up at the red-headed young man; it interfered with her seduction technique quite considerably. Scott was used to the sprite's antics. He let her cling to him and trail her fingers over him without even raising an eyebrow at her. The sprite, however, was not used to being ignored. Chihiro did not know how many spirits had ended up in her bed since the end of the mating season but she was sure it was not insignificant. She was not used to being denied something she wanted and Scott was treating her exactly as he had at university, with benign disinterest. 

She cuddled a little closer to him as he tried to speak to Chihiro. He kept glancing at Rin out of the corner of his eye, who wore a disapproving frown. Chihiro realised it must be a bit like being caught in a vice, having three sisters to deal with all of whom viewed him differently. Chihiro just wanted an easy friendship with him, Linca wanted what she normally wanted from any attractive male and Rin probably wanted nothing to do with him judging from the guarded look of suspicion that was written on her features.

Scott turned his attention back to Chihiro.

"So what do we do now?" he asked. Chihiro swallowed and tried to think. Scott gave her a sharp look. "Do you have any idea where you are going?" he asked.

"Some," she replied uncertainly. She rolled up her sleeves and showed him her arms with the indelible marks zig-zagging over her skin.

"These represent my quest and it is two-fold. One is for getting my mate back, the other I am unsure about."

"I think I can perhaps shed some light on that other mark now," said the Lady casually.

"Now the whole cast is assembled the quest is official. I can now take on a guidance role." She cocked her head suddenly as if listening to something.

"Oh dear," she muttered. She sat back on a window ledge, wiggling to get herself comfortable. "Sorry," she said and began to work the clasps at the front of her dress, exposing one generous breast. Scott's eyebrows shot up, finally surprised by something in this world. "He really can't wait any longer," the Lady explained. Suddenly her arms were full with a naked brown baby. Kisho looked as if he was already well over a year old. He had a thick thatch of blue-black hair and his violet eyes were wandering around the room.

"Auntie!" he exclaimed, slurring the word around his four white baby teeth.

"Auntie?" said Scott, looking at Chihiro questioningly.

"Long story," Chihiro muttered.

"You can talk to your auntie later," cooed the goddess. "You were screaming with hunger a moment ago." The child clamped its mouth over the goddess's nipple and began to drink with childish avarice.

"Remember not to bite this time," said the lady softly, stroking his black hair. Kisho nodded once and went back to drinking, his whole body relaxing into the crook of his mother's arm, one brown hand absently stroking the blue skin of his mother's breast.

"_Will it be like this for me?"_ Chihiro wondered_. "Will my child be talking at four months old? Will it age as quickly as Kisho?"_ There were so many unknowns. She was effectively carrying a hybrid, no one knew what the child would turn out like. It could be almost totally human, or mostly favour Haku.

"_As long as I don't lay an egg I think I will be able to cope,"_ thought Chihiro with an internal chuckle. There had been many Halflings in the past. Japanese legends were full of stories about demons and spirits that mated with humans to produce mixed offspring. The stories were not confined to Japan however; nearly every culture had legends about Han'yo, just like nearly every culture had some sort of dragon legend. "I'll be alright," she reassured herself. "I'm not the first to go through this and I probably won't be the last."

Rin was looking at the mother and child with such sadness in her brown eyes, as was Zeniba. Zeniba was proof of the pain that could be caused by a human and non-human liaison. Human and spirit relationships were cursed according to legend. Chihiro had hoped that such a curse was pure myth; she was beginning to think otherwise. "No one will take you from me," she promised her unborn child. "Not while I still draw breath."

"Well," said the lady, her attention turning to her audience. "As I said, I will now be the guide for this quest." Kisho frowned. His eyes were nearly lost as his chubby baby features wrinkled up. He took his mouth away from his mother's breast and messily licked his lips.

"But Daddy said you should not..." his face screwed up further as he searched for the word, "... mebble in this," he said, his face brightening as the mispronounced word rolled off his tongue. He hiccupped and burped contentedly.

"Hush now," said the lady with a fond smile. "What Daddy does not know won't hurt him. This is a very important thing and Mummy thinks she should see to it personally." She stroked his cheek. "Now drink up, or you won't get big and strong like Daddy is." The child nodded his violet eyes serious, and resumed his suckling.

"As I was saying," continued the lady, appearing slightly flustered. "I can guide you, but no more. I will provide information to you, but you will make your own judgements on how to proceeded and use the knowledge I give you. In the end you four only have each other to rely on." The Goddess juggled her child and offered him the other breast, covering the one he was finished with. Kisho appeared to be half asleep. His violet eyes slid closed as he began to suckle again.

"So in order for you to decide your first movie will tell you a story," sighed the goddess. She sat back a little, leaning against the window behind her. She flicked her raven hair over her shoulder. Chihiro found a seat and waited for the goddess of the spirit world to speak.

"Once, long ago all was one," said the lady's sweet voice, all in the room grew still and listened to her intently. "There was no difference between spirit world and physical world, caporal and ethereal existed side by side. All was as it should be until the ones who resembled us arrived. They had no power, and only had one form, they were hardly different from the other purely physical creatures that inhabited the world, and yet some of us recognised the spark in their dark eyes and knew they would one day become much more. Some welcomed the new animals, as was their right. Some ignored them, as was their right. Some actively preyed upon them, as was their right. None of us feared them, we all of us underestimated them.

"The creatures multiplied and grew in intelligence as they grew in numbers. The subspecies disappeared and they became one strong race. It was then that we noticed that the newcomers could manipulate their environment, just as we could. We thought their attempt to forcibly change the world around them quaint; they could not use magic as we could and so had to do it the hard way. Some of us even tried to aid them to make their hard lives a little easier. Soon after that, they gained the ability to grow their own food. We all rejoiced at this discovery. Though we spirits don't starve we don't like to go hungry either.

"But things started to change. More and more land was cleared by the newcomers and the spirits who made their homes in these lands either adapted to the changes, were forced into hiding, or were driven away. Non bonded spirits began to shun areas were large amounts of humans lived and those bonded to those lands were usually weakened and rarely seen. With little interaction with our kind the humans began to forget us. Only those in rural communities remembered and respected us, though they saw us less and less frequently. Things reached a critical point around 6000 years ago. The human population began to rise more rapidly. To save our kind from the problems that all these extra humans would cause, we combined our powers and the world was split into two. The physical and the ethereal were separated. Everything magical would reside in one world and everything non-magical in the other.

"The bonded spirits would still have a strong connection to the physical world but would essentially reside in this one, thus they would be able to bear all but the most destructive of human activity. When they became weak they could seek solace in this world and places like this bathhouse sprung up to cater for them. They still could protect their bond places, however, and still had influence over the physical world some even still had active contact with humans now that they were protected. The humans now had the physical world almost to themselves. As time wore on the worlds moved further apart. 

It becomes more and more difficult for a creature of the purely physical to come to the world of magic. Conversely, it became more difficult for spirits with no bonds to the physical to visit the physical world. Humans and spirits hardly ever saw each other and now the worlds are stretched as far apart as they can be while still remaining parallel. Most now believe that the worlds will sever and while we will suffer greatly from losing our connection to the physical, the humans will suffer more without our influence in their world. Many wish humankind that slow end, without us their world would die, but most do not know that without the physical we will also eventually cease to be. We need each other, but few now remember the time when the worlds were one."

"So humankind forced the separation of the worlds?" whispered Chihiro.

"Indeed," said the lady. "And most thought at the time we had done the right thing. A few objected, some idealists believed we could both perfectly co-exist, others thought that humankind should be culled and their numbers and development should be regulated by us. I have heard both those opinions voiced again in the past few months," said the lady sadly

"Why?" asked Linca. "Everyone knows that it's rubbish. Humans and spirits cannot live together."

"And yet you have a human sister sitting beside you," said Zeniba quietly.

"Chihiro is a human that lives as we do," said the lady. "A human that is a mate to one of our most powerful; a human that carries his child even though she has been careful," the lady smiled at Chihiro. "You have proved us all wrong child; human kind and spirit can live harmoniously."

"I may have come to the wrong conclusion here," said Scott with a small frown. "But are you saying that some of your people want to jam the worlds back together because of Chihiro?"

"That would be pure folly," said Rin softly. "Few humans even know of our existence, Chihiro's case is exceptional."

"Perhaps she is merely an excuse," said Zeniba. "One could gain a lot of followers through such a dogma. Think of all those billions of humans out there, slowly killing the land they live on. They have no concept of the pain their actions cause us. If the worlds were made one not only would the entire human race suddenly be surrounded by beings that could dominate them, but a large proportion would die due to the sallow-hale as they have no magical blood in them at all. We have been separated a long time, even Chihiro needed help to adapt to the latent magic that permeates everything in this world, and Scott will need the same intervention before he starts to sicken."

"I will?" said Scott.

"I'll take care of all that," said the lady, covering herself up and winding her sleeping son. "I'll also temporarily bond you, as you are here to provide a service there is no law restricting your stay here while you complete your task."

"So some fool is trying to destroy humankind?" squeaked Linca. "That's not possible!"

"Not destroy, control," said Zeniba with a worried frown. "Cut down the numbers by a few billion and then have them living under our total authority. They would never be able to harm us again that way." The room was silent; none of the spirits present wanted to say that the idea could possibly have wide appeal. "Besides, it is possible," sighed Zeniba. "If you have enough power, that is."

"Not even Master Haku could get close to doing something like that," said Meeka, her ginger ears twitching.

"You're correct," said Zeniba. "But No-Face arrived at the bathhouse this morning; he informed me that my seal has been stolen."

"Your seal is gone?" asked the goddess, her face shocked. Chihiro guessed it was not that often that a god was surprised. Zeniba hung her head.

"No-Face picked up the faint scent of my sister within my cottage." The old witch looked at her gnarled hands. "This incident puts a whole new perspective on the bathhouse attack, I think," she whispered.

"You mean it was a diversion?" hissed Rin. "All that killing just to get your seal?"

"With it and the right techniques, a powerful being could bring about the union of worlds. It would take time, and a vast amount of power, but it could be done."

"Then why kidnap Haku?" asked Chihiro. Zeniba and the Lady looked at each other.

"The powerful entity I fear my sister has allied herself with probably did not plan on capturing Haku. He was a bonus, nothing more. With him, he has leverage over you, Chihiro; the one who must fulfil the prophecy."

"He's going to kill him if I interfere," whispered Chihiro, her heart sinking. How could she act against a creature that held Haku's life in its hands?

"I think not," said Rin firmly. "Haku is a powerful being in himself, not easily killed, and with Haku in their grasp, our opponent has a ready source of power he can tap into."

"You mean he will bleed him dry to bring his plan to fruition?" said Linca, her jaw-dropping. She was not even clinging to Scott anymore.

"It's what I would do," said Rin.

Scott gave the brunette spirit an appraising look. It was better than the constant look of confusion on his features. Chihiro knew she would have to find time to full him in later, but her mind was flooded with her own troubles at that moment.

"So I have possibly brought ruin on my entire race because I tried to live happily," she whispered. No one said anything to contradict her. "Well, that's not fair," she said, almost chuckling. The sword at her side growled in her head for her to act, right the wrongs she had suffered; she ignored it. "So I guess I am truly cursed. Well, I was warned," she muttered.

"You are the justification for someone to gain power and build a world more to their liking. This is not a personal thing, you are just being used."

"Used," Chihiro whispered, deliberately not looking at Scott. "Perhaps I deserve it."

"This is all speculation," snapped Rin. "Stop being such a defeatist, we don't know anything for sure yet except that Haku is still alive; you would know if it was otherwise."

Chihiro nodded and absently touched the Tac' Tal at her neck.

"We should discover the prophecy and then decide what to do," said Rin.

But Chihiro was not listening; in touching the obsidian pendant her mind was filled with an anguished cry. The cry was her name, she was needed elsewhere urgently. She shuddered.

"_I'm coming,"_ she thought at the voice_. "I'm sorry; I've not been thinking properly, I'll be there soon."_ The cry turned to a whimper and faded from her mind.

"Chihiro?" Linca was shaking her, a worried look on her face. "Are you alright?" she bleated. "You looked like you were about to faint."

"I have to go now," said Chihiro dreamily. She bowed to the Goddess shakily. "Thank you for the story but I will act on your words later; I have something else that I need to attend to."

"The water is calling you?" asked the lady with a sympathetic look.

"Yes," Chihiro replied.

"Don't let its sadness drown you," warned the goddess.

"It won't hurt me," said Chihiro. "I'm its mate, and we have much to discuss." Her hand fell to her stomach. "It does not know it is to be a father yet."


	18. Meetings and Partings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An Empire seeking to reclaim its power...
> 
> An Emperor who is not what he seems...
> 
> A girl who could change the fate of the nation... whether she wants to, or not.
> 
> My first book is published! Snowblind is on sale worldwide. I'm so excited but did not want to leave A03 out. 
> 
> You guys changed my life and I really mean it when I say this would not have been possible without you. I want to give back to the amazingly supportive community here. 
> 
> I’m offering a FREE ebook copy of Snowblind. (Yes, the whole novel for free.) Go to the hidden page on my website just for my original readers annavelfman.com/free-book click the yellow button and I'll email you the book! 
> 
> Again, thank you so much. 
> 
> Never let the world tell you that you can’t dream big folks. 
> 
> Love and hugs…
> 
> Anna Velfman

Chihiro got off the train. She remembered the platform well, smooth polished stone and green fungus illuminating the walls. The tunnel that the train had travelled through disappeared on into the darkness, gaping like a toothless monster's cavernous mouth. Her feet slipped a little on the damp stone. She would have taken off her shoes but she knew the stone would be cold underfoot.

Linca and Rin looked around them. Linca had only ever been here once but Rin had never seen any of the place at all, even though her sister spent half of her time here. Chihiro knew her sisters were uneasy; they felt as if they were intruding, and indeed they would be if they were here without Chihiro. A bonded spirit's home was a very private thing; it was the most intimate and vulnerable part of the entity and only those trusted were allowed near, unless they were human, of course, and could not sense the spirit's displeasure at being disturbed. Scott proved the point; he had no uneasiness at all about standing on the threshold of the domain of one of the most powerful of spirits. He looked around, a small frown on his face, drawing his dark eyebrows together.

"You live here?" he asked. Chihiro nodded and moved forward through the tunnel that exited the platform. "Cosy," he muttered behind her, obviously still seeking to lock horns with her. But Chihiro was not paying him any attention. She was too focused on what lay ahead of her; the vast body of water that was whispering and calling for her.

The tunnel was low and Scott was obliged to bend his head a little. The air was slightly stale. Haku always kept the place well ventilated; it was the first sign that all was not as it should be. The fungus glowed just as brightly, however, and the air was not rank; not yet. The tunnel angled downward. Rin lost her footing on the slick ground and fell, slithering for a few feet on her bottom. Scott turned and took her hands, pulling her up and dusting down her back for her.

"Be more careful," he said gruffly then turned to follow Chihiro without another word. Rin's dark eyes glared at his back. The nerve of the human! Linca laughed at her sister's expression.

"He did not mean it as it sounded, Rin," she said in a low tone. Muttering, Rin trailed after the tall human.

It was not long before the tunnel began to widen and the light grew brighter. Chihiro could smell the damp in the air; the water could feel her coming and rejoiced. After about half an hour, the tunnel entered the cavern. Chihiro smiled at the gasps behind her. She supposed it was impressive. The tunnel came out on a platform above the lake. The cavern was illuminated with soft green light that bounced off the black water below. The vast lake was in constant motion; black waves stirred the surface as if blown by an intangible wind. The lake was in turmoil; confused and in pain with the forced separation from itself.

The reaction from Linca was instantaneous. With a little cry she threw herself down the steps cut into the cavern wall, her white hair streaming behind her.

"Linca!" shouted Scott. "You'll fall!"

"If she does, she'll bounce," said Chihiro picking her way down the slippery steps.

"She's a spirit; it takes more than falling thirty feet to hurt her," sniffed Rin. Scott raised an eyebrow and looked at the woman's sharp face.

"I did not mean to patronise you a moment ago." He bowed formally to her. "I have a younger sister; she was forever falling over as a child. I did not think."

Rin actually smiled at him. "Well, that's understandable, I suppose," she said awkwardly.

Linca was at the bottom of the steps already and racing towards the lake shore.

"LINCA!" Chihiro yelled urgently. "Don't touch that water!" But the sprite was not listening. Chihiro guessed that it was her own loneliness that was driving the sprite. She had to abandon her own home; the sight of the lake in so much pain was probably too much for her to take. Rin took over Chihiro and bounded down the steps, four at a time, but Linca was already at the shore. Lip trembling, she held out her delicate light blue hand to the pounding waves.

"LINCA!" Rin cried. "DON'T!"

Chihiro could feel the malice building in the water; it would turn on the sprite like a pain-maddened animal if she touched it.

"It's alright," Linca cooed at the water, "I want to help."

Chihiro could feel what the water was doing but she could not control it; the only control it had was its other self, who understood the world much better.

The water exploded outwards and something large and bulky shot out of it, knocking the sprite backwards. Chihiro swore and quickened her pace.

"What is that?" hissed Scott.

"A friend," said Chihiro. "But we need to stop him eating her."

Rin reached the prone spirit first, who was pinned by four hooves and was staring up into a velvet nose and mad dark eyes. Rin carefully drew a blade from somewhere on her person.

"No, Rin," gasped Chihiro, finally catching up. "He's ok; let me talk to him." The nygel bared his tombstone-like teeth at the spirit below him, ears laid flat against his head, flanks quivering. Linca was soaking from the water running off him but all she could do was stare in shock.

"What are you doing here?" he whinnied angrily. "What makes you think a lowly sprite like yourself is worthy enough to touch this water?" Linca just shook her head, mute.

"Nygel," said Chihiro gently. The stocky pony looked up, tossing its head to flick its shaggy main out of its face. "You're scaring my friend," she said calmly. The nygel stared at her; slowly his ears pricked forward and his brown eyes softened.

"Mistress," he whispered.

"Yes," she replied with a small smile.

"Where have you been?" he asked with a sharp whinny.

"I'm here now," she said. Stepping forward, she reached out and carefully rested a hand on his long nose. The water horse nickered and nuzzled her shoulder, nearly knocking her back.

"The water hurts," he said, nibbling her clothes like a foal.

"I know," she replied. "But I hope to help it as much as I can."

"Where is the dragon?" he asked, leaning into her as she scratched his neck. Linca seized the opportunity to scramble back from the dangerous creature. Water horses could snack on spirit as well as human if they so chose.

"I don't know," whispered Chihiro. "But I will get him back."

The nygel tossed his head and glared at the people behind Chihiro. "Who are they?" he demanded.

"My sisters and a friend of mine," said Chihiro firmly. "And no dunking the human and certainly no snacking!" she warned.

"Me?" said the water horse with affronted pride. "I was just trying to stop the stupid sprite from getting hurt."

"I know," said Chihiro with a smile. "You did well." She patted his neck and slapped his wet hide appreciatively.

"I don't know how the water will receive you if you go near it," said the nygel seriously.

"It won't hurt me," said Chihiro with conviction. "We are going to the house now," she said gently. "You're welcome to come."

The water horse pranced back from her. "But I'll wet the floor!" he squealed.

"That's alright," she said with a sad smile. "I think I need to talk to you, and my sister needs dry clothes and an apology from you." The horse grunted and swished his tail glaring at the crestfallen sprite who was hanging onto Rin for dear life.

"Very well," he grumbled and followed the human across the beach. "You could ride," he offered.

"No, thank you," she said her hand falling to her stomach. "But I appreciate the offer."

* * *

Chihiro sat in the main front room of her house and sighed. It had been icy when she arrived but now a fire crackled in the hearth and she had a full stomach. The house was well stocked with food and Linca had concocted a dried fish stew that was spicy but satisfying. The sprite was very quiet but seemed to bear no ill will towards the water horse. The horse himself had been very awkward in the house at first, bemoaning the puddles that followed him around the polished stone floors. He was lying by the fire now, sprawled like a giant dog. His coat had dried out and was actually incredibly fluffy. He had told her the state the lake was in; it had been very confused at first but now it was coming to terms with what had happened. This was familiar territory for it; it had been separated from its dragon before. That was not to say it was not distressed. Apart from being polluted, this was the worst thing that could happen to it. But the nygel had warned Chihiro against approaching the lake.

"It is in pain it will not treat you gently because it's mated to you," he snorted.

"Your mate is the water?" said Scott incredulously.

"Yes," she said. "It's difficult to explain but it's like his soul. His physical form was taken so his inner self is suffering." Scott just shook his head, not understanding. Chihiro sighed and stood. She returned a few minutes later, a small picture frame in her hand. She had kept Meeka's present to her in her bedroom; it was such a good likeness of her mate she wanted to keep it close to her. She handed the picture frame to Scott and he carefully turned it over. The image jumped out at him. Chihiro watched as Scott examined the Baraka. He passed his hand through the three dimensional hologram-like image of Chihiro riding a white dragon.

"Is that him?" he asked, blue eyes serious. She nodded.

"In his other physical form; I don't have a picture of him in his human form," she said apologetically. Scott looked at the expression of joy on the face of the girl in the picture and the sad, hunted features of the mother-to-be before him. He put the picture down on the table beside him.

"I still don't understand, Chihiro, but I can tell by they way you are suffering that this person may as well be your husband. I am here to help you even if I am just a human and my understanding is limited."

"I'm human too; I've not changed. I'm just plain old Chihiro. I'm still learning about this place; in fact, I think I will spend the rest of my life learning about it," she said quietly. She picked the picture back up and hugged it to her. She sat quietly for the rest of the evening; saying little; speaking only when spoken to. Like a good hostess she showed her guests to their rooms, biding them goodnight in hushed tones. She returned to the sleeping water horse. She knelt beside the creature and ran her hands through the fluffy bay coat, straightening the lighter coloured mane. It snorted in its sleep and a leg twitched, unshod hoof scraping the stone floor. She patted it fondly and left it to rest.

She sat on a large comfy chair and tucked her feet up. She could hear the pounding of the lake on the shore and its voice was still in her mind, small and whimpering. If it had been a child she would have held it to her until it felt better. But this was water; how could she possibly comfort it?

She closed her eyes and she must have fallen asleep. When she opened her eyes again the room was just the same, dimly lit with a horse sprawled before the fire, fast asleep. The only difference was there was someone else in the room, sitting on the seat next to her. She turned to see a very familiar profile, sharp features and flashing green eyes. Her heart leapt.

"Haku?" she breathed.

"Almost," he replied, turning to her with a small smile. Realisation hit Chihiro.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" she whispered, disappointment crushing her hope.

"Yes," he replied. "But the interesting thing is that I don't feel like a dream." He put his head on one side. "Touch me," he whispered. Lip trembling, Chihiro reached out for her mate, just to stroke his hair, it was all she needed. Her hand passed straight through him. Haku closed his beautiful eyes and sighed. "As I thought, I'm not really here."

"Then where are you?" she breathed, tears starting to trickle down her face.

"Somewhere too dry; other than that, I have no idea," he smiled at her.

"Don't cry, little one," he whispered, running a hand that was not really there over her face. She felt nothing but drank in the sight of him.

"This won't last long I barely have the strength to stand at the moment," he said sadly. "Good thing I had the foresight to leave part of my soul with you," he said with a chuckle. "Or any communication between us would be impossible. As it is, this may be all we have; I can't guarantee my mind will be able to reach you again."

"I'm going to rescue you!" she blurted out. "I'm coming to get you."

Haku shook his head, his face serious. "No, little one, you stay where it is safe. They want you to come, that is what this is all about," he said softly. "They will make you dance to their tune and manipulate you through me. I won't have that."

She burned to tell him her news; she longed to tell him he was going to be a father. But the words stuck in her throat; he did not need to know that now. The news might weaken him. If he thought she was safe and protected he would concentrate on his own safety.

"Alright," she whispered. "I will stay with the lake." She was lying; she was going to do everything in her power to rescue him but she did not want to fill these precious moments with argument. She wanted to rescue him.

"I miss you so much," she sobbed.

"And I, you," he whispered, moving to close to her. She should be able to feel his sweet breath on her face. "But I need to know you are safe."

"I know," she replied. "I am well taken care of, I can assure you," she said with a smile.

"I'm working on a way out," he said softly. "Be patient and I will return to you; you have my word, Chihiro."

She nodded, wiping at her eyes. When she looked up again, he was gone.

"No!" she screamed.

She sprang out of her chair, looking around. She was awake and the water horse was staring at her. "Come back!" she croaked, her throat closing over. "Please!" she begged. But there was no answer; there was just faint warmth in the Tac'Tal around her neck.

"_I did not even tell him I loved him_," she thought, hiding her face in her hands. The thought rattled around her brain that she might have stained their last words together with lies. But needs must; she was his mate and she was going to do all she could to bring him back to her, including tell barefaced lies to him to keep him strong. The marks on her arms ached.

Resolve strengthened, she lowered her hands to find the nygel struggling to his feet.

"What is it?" he asked, trotting over to her. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"I need to talk to the lake," she whispered, looking at him steadily. "I want you to come with me and pull me out if things go bad."

"It's not a good idea; I told you it could drown you by accident…"

"I know," she interrupted him. "But I can't waste time here; I have to find out what I have to do and quickly. I need to get my mate back." The nygel snorted at the human's arrogance. If the dragon could not free himself, how could she ever hope to help him?

"Now, nygel," she said firmly.

"Yes, mistress," he replied, bowing his head.

"Do you have a name other than nygel?" she asked her voice still a little unsteady.

"Snaffu," he replied.

"Snaffu?" she almost laughed.

"It was the name of the first human ever to capture me; he treated me well. He was a pharaoh. I pulled his chariot but he got careless one day and did not renew the control spells on me. I ate him, except the liver, of course; I left that to float in the Nile."

Chihiro shook her head at the amoral spirit. "And you wonder why I won't ride you," she muttered.

"You are a nice human. Even if you were not the dragon's mate, I would not eat you," he said, baring his teeth in a horsy grin.

"Very reassuring," she muttered. "Come on, I want to do this before the others wake up."

* * *

On the cliff line above the lake, Chihiro sat and removed her shoes. She placed them beside her then emptied her pockets. Some gold coins, a sprig of mint that she had been chewing on and a lock of her mate's hair; she had tied red thread around it to bind it together. She stroked it and then tucked it into her right shoe. With that she stood; her travelling clothes would not weigh her down too much. She looked over the cliff at the choppy black water.

"Tell me you are not thinking of jumping in there," whinnied the nygel. Chihiro grinned at him and sprinted off the edge of the cliff. She plunged through the air, her stomach rising into her mouth. She crossed her arms and prepared to hit the water but the water parted below her and received her without so much as a splash.

"HUMANS!" snorted the nygel before he dove over the cliff himself.

Chihiro was sucked down. She did not fight the water; it knew she needed to breathe. She held her breath and trusted it. Her faith paid off, she was borne upward, completely supported by the currents. Her head broke the surface and she sucked in lungfuls of air. She was in a small cavern filled with green fungus and black water. There was barely enough room for her head, but there was a fissure in the rock above her through which fresh air leaked. The water below her was probably fathoms deep but the water held her motionless; she did not have to move at all.

"Thank you," she thought at it. The water pressed against her, desperate to be close. "Not too much," she warned. "I can get damaged." The water understood. It told her that it was damaged. Without Haku it could not regulate its temperature; it was getting too cold and some of the life within it was already starting to die. The air from above was not filtering through as it should. It reeled off an incomprehensible list of things that were going wrong at a microscopic level. Chihiro felt like covering her ears; it was too much. She thought to it that she could give it sympathy but not much else. She was human, there was nothing she could do… but the water was no longer listening to her. A small wave of pressure ran up her stomach like a caress; she could feel its interest. There was something different about her but what was it? She pictured in her mind what a foetus looked like, human shaped but transparent, heart beating in its chest and her own body feeding it. The whole lake stilled. Not a single current stirred within it.

Its human was with child.

Gently she was pulled back into the water; she was handled as if she would break apart. When she was pushed back to the surface again she was not far from the black sand shore where she had first met the water horse. The horse himself was prancing around the sand in worried circles; the water had obviously kept her from him. Chihiro found her footing and began to wade towards him. The water bubbled around her feet joyfully; she did not have to worry about a thing, she just had to stay safe. It did not matter what happened to itself now; it would live on in the child.

Chihiro could not lie to the water; she told it of her intention to go after its physical self. The water considered her plan and grudgingly agreed that she should go after him. It was in her interests and the child's to gain back what had been taken from them. The water pushed something into her hand. It was a small glass bottle of water, no bigger than her thumb. The water told her that she could check on its condition by the colour of the water within. If it turned black, that was the last phase before it was dead. She thanked it. She struggled up the beach and the nygel whinnied in greeting.

"I'm sorry; it threw me out and would not let me return. It wanted you all to itself," he explained, ears swivelling.

"Now I know where your other self gets his possessive streak from," thought Chihiro to the water. They finally left the lake. She felt exhausted but she knew they should be leaving in a few hours.

"Will you please let me take you up to the house?" begged the horse.

"I can't ride," said Chihiro, patting him.

"Are you worried I'll dunk you or is it the child?" he asked with a sly nicker.

"Both," she replied "How long have you known?"

"I have a very good nose; I smelt the change in you when you first came near me," he said proudly. "As for not wanting to damage the child, I'm not a normal horse; the ride will be so smooth you will think you are sitting in a chair."

Chihiro was too tired to argue. The horse knelt for her and she slipped onto its back. It rose and Chihiro thought she would surely fall off, but she seemed to be held magically in place. The nygel turned away from the lake and walked up the steps to the house. He did indeed step lightly; Chihiro hardly moved at all.

"Wherever it is you are going, I'm coming too," he declared. Chihiro did not argue. She lent forward and rested her cheek against his mane, her arms hugging his neck.

"I'm sorry I lied to you, Haku," she whispered and fell into a dark, dreamless sleep.


	19. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, sorry for the delay in getting this out but I've been preoccupied with my book launch. Snowblind hit online bookstores worldwide yesterday, physical copies are in production (covid slowed this down) and I am in talks with voice actors for an audiobook version!
> 
> Phew!
> 
> I know many of you have already but I just wanted to say the offer of getting a free copy of snowblind still stands to all my fanfic readers past and present. Go to annavelfman.com/free-book (the page is hidden, so you won't get onto it through my main website. It's for you wonderful people, not just anyone!)
> 
> There you can click a button and tell me where to send your ebook.
> 
> This is my thank you to all you amazing readers. I hope you enjoy.

Haku groaned. He was awake again. How long had he been out this time? He was unsure but the rays of sun pouring from the tiny window above him told him he had slept the bitter night through. He let his head hang again to try and stretch the muscles in his shoulders. He was getting used to the pain. Indeed, his arms, pinned above him, were starting to become numb. For a human this would have been very worrying but Haku knew his body could take care of itself; his stomach wound was almost healed. His head still hurt but at least he was no longer trying to vomit. His lack of strength was entirely down to his efforts on the spells that cut him off from his power. He smiled to himself; it had been worth it; he had seen her.

He had been about to pass out from another session of attacking the weave of the spells that bound him when he felt something give. It was like breathing a tiny amount of pure oxygen after nearly drowning. He gasped, and then to his embarrassment, he panicked. He was terrified that the weave of the spell would try to repair itself at any moment and he would lose his tenuous hold on his power. His heart in his mouth, Haku shoved everything he had at the tiny breach. Of course he passed out, but he did not fail. He did not want to re-establish connection to the water, he knew what would be happening and there was nothing he could do to help it. It was his mate that he reached for.

When he found himself sitting in his own house, he knew he was not really there. He suspected he was in his own mate's mind. The nygel sleeping by the fire made him raise an eyebrow, then again his human did not care what calibre of spirit she associated with; it was one of her charms. He turned and saw her sleeping on the chair next to him. He had sighed with relief; she was fine. She looked a little pale but otherwise she was healthy. That would have been enough for him, but at that moment she became aware that she was not alone within her own mind. He had hoped that he would remain long enough for her to see him. He was given more than he could ever hope for. He got a chance to speak to her. Her face changed when she saw him, it lit up with a euphoric joy that both warmed and humbled him. What had he ever done to be so loved? She had shed tears and promised to find him; he had told her that she was to look after herself and to stay safe. She was so fragile, and there was no chance of her finding him; even he did not know where he was. She would stay safe and in doing so fulfil whatever prophecy she was meant to. She had reassured him she would stay safe; it had been all he needed to hear.

_______________

He had woken up, parched and in pain. When had he last eaten? He did not know and he had lost track of the days too.

He jumped as the bolts in the door opposite him rattled back. He had a visitor; that was a new development. Since he had taken a snap at Yubaba he had been left alone. The door opened, scraping the floor and piling up mini sand dunes behind it. Haku winced as the sound echoed around his sensitive skull. In the doorway stood a tall figure, hidden in shadow. While Haku had no access to his power, his other senses worked perfectly well. He could smell the magic running through this spirit; this was no mere jailer, it was too powerful for that. He remained silent, taking in as much information on the spirit as he could. It moved into the cell and the light from the window fell on jet black hair that seemed to devour the light rather than reflect it, was longer than his own, and braided down the spirit's back. Haku met the grey eyes that regarded him with open interest. He still said nothing. The spirit closed the door and then laughed. Haku blinked, feeling confused. It had not been what he expected; the laugh was not taunting or bitter, it was a genuine laugh of amusement.

"Forgive me," said the spirit, still smirking. "But you are a diabolical mess." The voice was low and lilting. This was not the sort of nemesis Haku had anticipated at all. With nothing to say, he remained silent. "I shall have my jailer whipped for keeping you in such conditions, Kohaku," sighed the spirit. "Just because you are my captive does not mean I expect one such as you to live in squalor." He looked around and tutted. "Not even so much as a bowl of water for your comfort. Shadow spirits really have no common sense." The spirit closed his eyes and suddenly Haku was drenched by a few gallons of pure, freshwater falling on him out of the oven-dry air. He groaned; he could not help it. He flicked his dripping hair back and licked his lips; it felt delightful to be wet again. He did not question his captor at all, hoping his silence would provoke the spirit. It was the only weapon he had left.

"Your stay here will be of some duration, I'm afraid," said the spirit. "I apologise for not checking on you sooner but I have been exceptionally busy." The spirit crouched down to Haku's eye level. "I must say it is an honour to meet you at last, Kohaku. Had circumstances been different, I am sure we would have much to talk about." Haku glared at him by way of a response. The spirit put its head on one side and frowned, grey eyes focusing on the bonds above Haku's head.

"You've not been idle, I see," he murmured and the grey eyes looked back into the dragon's own. "Though I should expect nothing less; if I was in your position I would be doing the same." A pale, long fingered hand touched the obsidian inlaid cuffs and they flared with red light. Haku could have howled with frustration; days of hard work had just been obliterated. The spells were repaired and reinforced. The spirit sighed and patted Haku on the head as if he was a naughty child. Haku winced and pulled away from him.

"I will have someone sent to dress that wound," said the spirit quietly. He almost sounded as if he was angry at Haku's treatment. "And I will have food brought immediately." Haku yearned to know why he was being treated with such civility. The spirit stood.

"So what did you tell your mate, Haku?" he asked with a sly smile. Again Haku remained silent though he had to bite his tongue; he burned to hurl abuse at the insidious spirit. He was not blinded by the amenable façade. This spirit was dangerous.

"I imagine you warned her to stay safe," the spirit said, as if bored. "You have much to learn about humans, young dragon." The spirit laughed again. "You really think one such as her will be content to stay at home and await your return?" He leant forward, the dark braid falling over his left shoulder. "They are short-lived creatures, Kohaku and they lack patience because of that. They also lie very easily." Haku knew he was being goaded. He imbedded a fang in the inside of his cheek to stop himself speaking. The spirit raised his eyebrows.

"You disbelieve me?" he said lightly. "Very well; I will show you." He gestured to the wall and an ornate mirror appeared with a silver clouded surface and a gold work-frame. As Haku watched, the mirror cleared. He was shown an image of a train and he immediately recognised his mate. He could only see the back of her head, as she was looking out of the window. There were others on the train; Rin slept across from her and there was a tall red-headed man sitting at her feet, arms folded and in deep discussion with Linca who sat on his opposite side. At the back of the train by the baggage was the nygel, looking ridiculously fluffy now he was dry, and very uncomfortable being on the train.

"If she told you she was going to be the dutiful little mate and stay at home, Kohaku, then she lied to you," sneered the spirit. "You claim to love her. If that is so, how could you not know that she would come for you?"

Haku was enraged for a split second, but the emotion soon died and was replaced by worry. His little one was stubborn; she had been even as a child. Of course she would come for him, just as he would for her. He found himself smiling despite the worry that clenched his heart.

"I fail to see the humour in all this," said the spirit crisply. "You must know I intend to stop her if she attempts to gain you back, or impedes me in any way."

Haku knew. Of course, he did; that was why he was terrified for his mate, but in an odd way he was proud too. She knew the odds were against her but she was coming after him anyway. Maybe this was all part of the prophecy and she was taking a stand against the dangerous spirit before him, despite all he had done to try and derail her, even before she knew what her purpose was. Haku knew he was here as a way to try and weaken his mate. He wondered why the spirit feared her so; what could a human do that the spirit felt he had to try and break her before she even lifted a hand against him? It did not matter; Haku could not protect her; he had to trust that she would not be stupid and take too many risks.

"She's made you soft, dragon," said the spirit, watching the calm expression settle on Haku's sharp face.

"_Probably,"_ thought Haku ruefully. Getting nothing from his captive, the spirit turned to leave and the mirror on the wall vanished.

"Who are you?" asked Haku to his back. The spirit turned and looked at his prisoner, grey eyes amused but cold. Haku cursed himself for speaking but the question was obvious enough and risked nothing.

"I have had many names," said the spirit blandly. "But most recently I have been called Kenshin." Haku's heart stilled.

"I thought you were dead," he hissed, his eyes narrowing.

"Not yet," said the spirit, with a small, joyless smile. The door slammed shut and the bolts rattled home.

"I'm in trouble," muttered Haku. "And Chihiro is in even more trouble."

How could his mate possibly pit herself against one so powerful? Haku resigned himself to having to save her and with a heavy heart started to tug at the spells that held him once more.

______________

"This sucks," muttered Scott, lifting his sodden boot out of the mud. "Literally."

"Take your shoes off then," sighed Rin. Scott eyed the spirit sceptically.

"Ever heard of leaches?" he asked, slightly sarcastically.

The party had got off the train on one of the platforms that did not quite exist in the spirit world. They were frequented by the shadow spirits but to Chihiro's relief this one was empty. There were rumours that there had been a mass exodus of shadow spirits even before the battle for the bathhouse. Something was calling them away from their traditional haunts. The shadow spirits were an enigma even in the spirit world; they rarely spoke to outsiders and their laws, customs and even god were alien to everyone else in the spirit world.

They were heading roughly south to meet the person who had prophesied about Chihiro and her mission; the Old Man of Arron.

They were walking through a flooded part of the plain. Blue grass grew under the water and under that was thick mud. The spirits and water horse splashed lightly through the water. The two humans were soon bogged down in the mire. Scott's combat trousers were covered in grey mud to the knees and Chihiro was worse off, having fallen twice. She pulled at her stuck right leg and left her boot behind in the mud. She cursed and kicked at the water. Linca gracefully skipped through the shallows and retrieved the boot, which was more a lump of grey mud.

"You know, if we keep going at this rate, it will be a month before we get to this old man we have to see," she said reasonably.

"I know that!" snapped Chihiro snatching her boot back. "But what else can we do? We are not gifted with the ability to make ourselves lighter like you."

"Well, I would suggest that one of you ride on old Sniffy over there," said Linca, gesturing over her shoulder in the nygel's direction. "But that would still leave one of you stuck in the mud."

"That's Snaffu, sprite," snorted the nygel indignantly. Both he and Linca had taken an instant dislike to one another. Linca had already twice "accidentally" fallen over and used Snaffu's tail to pull herself back up, making the water spirit snap at her. Of course, he retaliated and "accidentally" stepped on Linca's toes. Chihiro had let Rin handle them, being far too preoccupied with her slow progress through the sucking mud. Rin had set about them both with the flat of one of her many knives and now the malice between the two spirits was confined to hateful looks.

"Snaffu can't carry two people," Chihiro sighed. "And I should not ride anyway."

"Why?" asked Linca, helping Chihiro put her slimy boot back on.

"Because she is pregnant, Linca," said Scott, dragging himself up to stand beside the two women. All three spirits looked perplexed.

"Is this one of those weird human reproduction things?" asked Rin, with a frown. "If it is, I don't want to know. I still can't comprehend how you bleed for five days and don't die." Chihiro grinned. It had been the first time she had smiled since seeing Haku. She had not told the others of her visitation; it was private. She had, however, told them that they had to seek out the Old Man of Arron as soon as they could. For a spirit it would be a four-day journey. It looked like the humans were already slowing things down.

"Because I carry my child inside me, the motion of a horse can make me miscarry. It's a very slight risk, but with this not being a normal pregnancy, I don't think I should take chances. I think I should only ride you for short spells, Snaffu," she said to the water horse with a sigh.

"Oh," said Linca, her face serious. "I had no idea that it was so fragile. I mean it's inside you; I thought that it was as safe as it got?" Chihiro shrugged and gave Scott a knowing look. He got the message; he had all the same sort of questions and misunderstandings to look forward to. There was no subject too personal or awkward that the spirits were not desperate to learn about. It was flattering in a way; Chihiro was doing her best to learn about them, it was nice they wanted to meet her halfway, but it could be very frustrating at times.

"I am not a normal horse," whinnied the Nygel. "You would move less on me than you would when you are walking, mistress! I've had human women ride me before while pregnant; they never came to any harm." He trotted forward, splashing the humans.

"Back foul creature!" hissed Linca. "You're coming nowhere near my sister!"

"Sister!" snorted the Nygel, laying his ears back. "Your blood and my mistress's are not even the same temperature!"

"Enough," growled Scott, his low voice rumbling like a small thunderstorm. The entire party stared at him. The placid human normally said very little, so to hear him actually raise his voice grabbed everyone's attention. "Bickering between ourselves is pointless."

Chihiro sighed, very glad she had a large, even tempered human on this quest with her to balance out all the volatile spirits. The tall, redheaded man shifted his weight so he could keep his sliding feet together.

"We have problems that need solving. First, we need to find dry land to camp on tonight, and second, it's stupid that we humans who are mired down are still carrying our own baggage. You spirits are going to have to carry a bit more," Scott said calmly.

"Do I look like a pack mule?" Rin snapped.

"No," Scott countered, "you look like a very strong, able woman who could easily help out a pair of struggling humans."

"Oh, that was good," muttered Chihiro out the side of her mouth. "You're catching on fast." A small smile pulled at Scott's lips but otherwise he kept his face straight.

He slipped the pack from his back and held it out to the spirit woman. Rin's face was a picture. The normally hard brown eyes had softened at the sly compliment but her lips were still pressed together with displeasure at being asked to carry more than her fair share. But it seemed Scott was much craftier than he had ever let on.

"It's a 60 pound pack," he said evenly. "If you can't handle it then I'm sure Snaffu..."

Rin splashed up to him and slipped one strap from her own pack. She grabbed Scott's pack and slipped it over her free shoulder. A quick spell later, the packs bound themselves together across her back. She flicked her long hair over the top of them and gave the tall human a defiant look. Linca and Chihiro were trying desperately not to laugh; how Scott could keep his face so serious Chihiro did not know, but there was a twinkle in his blue eyes that told her that he was close to bursting out laughing. Rin practically skipped away, just to show that she was not weighed down at all by a mere 60 pounds. Giggling silently, Linca reached for Chihiro's pack.

"I'll take that!" Snaffu whinnied, and pulled at the pack with his teeth, lifting Chihiro out of the mud. She hung from her pack, eyes closed, waiting to be put back down. Linca was about ready to burst with rage and her white eyes began to swirl with black.

"I have a better task for you, Snaffu," said Scott quickly. "One much more suited to your many talents." The horse carefully put Chihiro back down. Chihiro handed her pack to the still fuming Linca.

"We need to find somewhere dry to spend the night," explained Scott, bending down to the water horse's eye level. You're the fastest of us and this terrain is no problem for you. I'd like you to be our Scout. It's important Chihiro gets her rest and that means somewhere dry." The horse nickered and snorted in agreement. Scott patted the spirit's neck, treating the dangerous creature as if it was a normal pony.

"I always liked Scottish people," it said, tossing its head and baring its flat teeth. Chihiro knew there was a pair of very sharp retractable fangs hidden in that mouth. Nygels had razor-sharp claws too; there was a slight bulge on each fetlock that contained a six inch claw. Very useful for ripping more meaty prey limb from limb.

"I bet we taste wonderful," agreed Scott, beating the creature to the punch line. The horse whinnied with laughter and pranced sideways. Then it was galloping away, kicking up spray as it went.

"I hate that nag," muttered Linca.

"You're just sore that he scared you half to death," chuckled Rin.

"The threat of a messy death on our first meeting does tend to make me dislike him," said Linca.

"Lets get going," said Scott. "Hopefully we will find somewhere before dark."

"We'd better," murmured Rin. "The big things come out to play after dark; a fire will make them keep away but I would not like to be still travelling after sunset."

It was a sobering statement as it was midday already. The humans pushed on, lighter and with renewed vigour. They both knew that they were useless in the dark.


	20. MUD

Snaffu returned just before sunset. "I found a place!" he whinnied. "Not far from here, but you will have to hurry, there is a storm coming."

Linca looked at the clear, slightly purple sky. "You're talking rubbish!" she scoffed. The nygal flattened his ears and bared his teeth at the sprite.

"Actually, Linca," panted Chihiro, struggling to wade between them, "as far as predicting bad weather goes, I am inclined to believe Snaffu. He is a water spirit, after all." Snaffu snorted and tossed his head and eyed Linca balefully.

"Will you ride me now, mistress?" asked the nygal politely. "I can take you the distance and then come back for the tasty Scotsman."

"You hear that?" said Scott to Rin, who was pulling him out of another sucking mud hole. "Snaffu thinks I'm tasty."

"I would be questioning Snaffu's taste in food," grunted Rin as she pulled at Scott's hand.

The large young man was yanked from the mud with a wet slurp, but Rin had been a little heavy-handed. His momentum carried him forward and he crashed into his rescuer. Rin squeaked and she was knocked backwards into the mud and a large human fell on top of her.

"Ahh! Get off me, you clumsy fool!" she screeched, beating on Scott's back with her fists. Scott was laughing so hard he could not have moved even if he wanted to. Linca rolled her eyes and went to peel her friend off the top of her sister. Scott struggled to his feet with Linca's help, apologising to Rin between chuckles that shook his entire frame. Rin looked down at herself; she was covered in grey mud. It even matted her hair. She kicked her legs in the air and sprang to her feet. Chihiro sighed. No matter how much Rin's lessons had improved her fitness, she knew she would never be that agile.

"You giggle like a drunken air spirit!" snapped Rin, glaring at the still laughing Scott.

Scott tried to straighten his face but Linca had been infected by his laughter. When he stopped, she snorted and burst into her own fit of giggles. This started the poor human off again. Rin's dark eyes regarded them both icily.

"You're cackling like harpies!" she growled. "I should cut your tongues out!"

Chihiro shook her head. She was too tired for this. She patted the water horse's flank and murmured that she would gladly accept a ride. The creature graciously bent down for her and she swung onto its back.

"I can hold you in place," it whinnied kindly.

"Thank you," Chihiro sighed.

"OI!" said Linca, noticing what was going on. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to find a place to spend the night," Chihiro said without energy. "You three can continue annoying each other without me. Snafu will come back for Scott." Before there were any protests, the water horse galloped away. Chihiro nearly swallowed her tongue in surprise. The creature was unbelievingly fast; her hair streamed behind her as its hooves ate away at the ground. The creature had been right, she hardly moved at all. Tears began to tumble from her eyes.

"_Not again!" _she wailed internally. But she could not help herself. The feel of the wind in her face and the strong muscles moving beneath her reminded her strongly of what it was like to ride her white dragon. Would she ever ride the skies with him again? _"Of course I will!"_ she told herself firmly. She let the wind dry her tears from her face. She did not want to show the others her sadness; they were doing enough for her as it was.

The water horse galloped for the best part of an hour, never tiring, never needing to take a break. Finally, Chihiro saw what he had found for them in the last dying rays of sunlight. There was a small hill rising out of the mud. It had willow trees growing on it and it was quite firm. Snaffu slowed to a trot and then a walk. Chihiro slid from him. The horse was covered in foamy sweat and look like he needed a good rub down and a night in a stall with a blanket over him. The nygal must have seen Chihiro's concern.

"I'm alright, mistress," he said with a cheerful horsy grin. "I'm just not used to being so active out of water. I'm not tired." Chihiro patted his side thankfully. The horse snorted, wheeled around and galloped away. She scrambled up the hill. It was quite flat on top. She wished she had her pack with her; she could have started a fire. It was almost completely dark. For the want of anything better to do, she sat with her back to one of the large willows. 

She blinked against the darkness. Her hand found its way into her mud-encrusted trousers and her fingers stroked something that felt like silk. She took the braided hair of her mate from her pocket along with the small bottle of water from his river. Even in the low light the hair still flashed with dull green highlights. She stroked it absently as she inspected the vial of water. It was still clear. The river might be suffering, but it was as healthy as it could be under the circumstances. There was a shuffling to her left; to her right, a twig snapped.

Even a few months before, the thought of being alone in the dark with unknown things surrounding her would have terrified Chihiro. Now, after all that had happened, she knew that little else as traumatic as having her mate ripped from her was likely. Whoever it was would have attacked her immediately if they were truly dangerous, or hungry enough to want to eat her. 

They would also not be making noise if they did not wish her to know they were there. She slipped the bottle into her pocket and continued to stroke her mate's hair with her right hand. With her left hand, she pulled out her Tac'Tal. The noises stilled immediately. It would be immediately obvious to any denizen of the spirit world that she was protected by a formidably powerful entity. Chihiro felt it was time for introductions; luckily Haku had schooled her well in such things. She could hear his lilting voice echoing in her head.

"Be careful around those outside the bathhouse. Never give your first name; it can give a spirit a modicum of control over you if they know what they are doing. Be polite always and always have your Tac'Tal on display."

"What so they can see I'm owned?" Chihiro remembered saying sarcastically.

"Precisely," he had purred in her ear, pulling her close, running his hands down her back. "They will know my power protects you. Even if I am not there, the spells in my gift will be a force to be reckoned with if they use magic."

"And what if they just try to hit me with blunt instruments?" she had asked, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"If you're polite it won't get to that stage," he chuckled. "Most spirits will take one look at my gift and want to play nice."

"And if they don't?" she had murmured into the soft skin of his neck.

"Then I suggest you run for it," he laughed, unpinning her hair and running his fingers through it.

"Run for it?" she had squeaked stepping back from him. "Some mate you are! I could be in real trouble one day and your advice is for me is 'run away'? Might I remind you that as a human I don't tend to move that fast and-"

He had stopped her tirade with a soft kiss that stole her breath. "Trust me," he said, his green eyes dancing. "Be nice and be anonymous and you will come to no harm under normal circumstances."

"If you say so," she had sighed, not really caring anymore.

"Fool!" Chihiro thought to herself. "I should have pressed him for more information." But neither of them had expected to be alone so soon after their mating. "Except I'm not alone," Chihiro grumbled internally, directing that particular thought to her stomach.

"I come here requiring shelter," she said out loud. "There are more on the way. I require nothing from you, only a place to take refuge from the beasts of the marshland." There were low, barely audible whispers from among the trees. "We don't plan to stay for free, however," said Chihiro, thinking on her feet. "We will share our food with you." There were more low whispers. Chihiro thought she saw a flash of yellow eyes and red fur, but she could have been mistaken as there was so little light.

"Could be fox spirits," she thought.

Fox spirits were well-known pranksters; they liked nothing better than to fool humankind. Most of their tricks were harmless but there were cases of them being deadly. There was more rustling, then there was singing; voices raised in a high, floating melody which seeped into Chihiro's mind. Everything was fine, she might have a heavy heart but she was safe here, she should rest... yes stay here, rest and listen to the song. The Tac' Tal at her neck flared and grew hot. She ignored it; the beautiful song was so soothing. 

Chihiro listened and let her eyes slide closed. Nothing mattered, she was safe. There was movement beside her, but it did not matter. A small fury hand tickled her neck, intending to take her Tac' Tal. Why should they not have it? Surely the little foxes of this island deserved such a thing? Smiling, Chihiro waited for the little creatures to take what they wanted. The Tac' Tal had other ideas, however. There was a flash, and the little thieves jumped back with inhuman yelps. Spell broken, Chihiro struggled to her feet.

"How dare you!" she yelled into the gloom. "After everything, I did to be respectful to you!" Mocking laughter echoed from the trees.

"Fine!" snapped Chihiro. "Have it your own way!" She stalked off the island and stood in the sucking mud once more. Shivering, she folded her arms. It started to rain, soaking her hair and running down the back of her neck. The mud around her legs deepened. She tried to move only to discover she was hopelessly stuck. There was more laughter from the island. Chihiro wondered if Snaffu liked fox flesh. She was given the opportunity to find out as she heard rapid hoofbeats in the distance. The Nygel sprayed her with mud as he skidded to a halt.

"Mistress!" he whinnied in surprise.

"Chihiro?" said Scott's voice. She could hardly see his silhouette in the darkness. There was a splashing sound. "OWW!" grumbled the red-headed young man. "I've not been on a horse since the summer. I'm going to be walking like a duck for the next day or so." Chihiro smiled; she was saddle sore herself.

"You'll harden up," whinnied the Nygel with a horsy grin. The spirit shook himself like a dog, showering Scott with water and mud.

"Why are you standing out here?" asked Scott, wiping his face. Chihiro could just see his red hair in the gloom.

"The island has inhabitants," she said. "I think they are fox spirits and they are light-fingered."

"They are no problem mistress," said the nygel, laying his ears flat.

"Before you chase them off..." sighed Chihiro. "Could you pull me out of this mud?"

The nygel obligingly gripped her by the collar and Scott pulled her up by the waist. Chihiro squeaked as her sodden travelling slacks slipped down her legs and remained in the mud. The nygel dropped her and she landed at Scott's feet in her underwear. Chihiro looked up at the dark outline of the young man and burst into tears.

"Hey now!" Scott cried. "No need to cry! All our packs are wrapped in plastic and covered in spells for good measure. You have dry things to change into; just wait for Rin and Linca to get here."

"It's hopeless!" Chihiro cried at the sky. "Why did I think I could do this? I'm just a stupid, insignificant human. What can I possibly do that will make the slightest-"

"Shut up, Chihiro," snapped Scott. He bent down and pulled her to her feet. "You can do this," he said firmly, his face inches from hers. "Do you think I would have come if I thought you would not achieve what you set out to do?"

Chihiro gulped and shivered. This close to him she could feel the heat from his body against her bare legs and smell that strange masculine smell that all men of a certain age seemed to carry. It made her heart pound for her mate and the tears poured from her eyes all the more. She had been warned that this forced separation would be hard, but she never guessed it would be this hard.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself!" growled Scott.

"Don't speak to Mistress Chihiro that way!" snorted the nygel indignantly. There was more mocking laughter from the island.

"Make yourself useful and do something about them," said Scott to the water horse. "The sooner we get her on to that island, the sooner we can make her comfortable."

The nygel stamped his hooves and clearly was contemplating charging the insolent human.

"Are you forgetting she is pregnant?" asked Scott lightly. "I doubt the father would be very pleased if he ever heard you were neglecting her." Scott's words had the desired effect. The nygel rolled his eyes a little then he galloped onto the small hill. There were high pitched shrieks as the fox spirits ran for their lives. Chihiro closed her eyes, not wanting to listen.

"I'm sure your crisis of confidence will be over as soon as you are dry and fed," sighed Scott, taking her chilled hand and patting it. He frowned as he felt the mating scar under his fingers.

"I was hurt you did not think to invite me to the ceremony," he said suddenly, his voice warm in the darkness. "No matter what I hoped would happen between us, I was your friend. I even got deported from Japan for helping you out."

Chihiro swallowed the lump in her throat. She had been so cruel to him and not realised it at all.

"I'm sorry," she said slowly. "I never intended any of this. I was selfish."

"I know why you were," sighed Scott. "I know what it is like to be so in love that it consumes you."

"You do?" asked Chihiro, curious in spite of herself.

"Yes, I do," said Scott, chuckling at her surprised tone. "But for me, it did not last. I ended up coming to Japan to get away from my memories of her. It's never nice getting dumped and she was my first love so I took it particularly badly. You could say I was on the rebound when I met you."

"Ah," said Chihiro. His instant attraction to her seemed to make much more sense; that, and Linca's forceful matchmaking. She had probably thought she was doing them both a favour.

"But I do believe you will be successful in your mission, Chihiro," said Scott firmly. "Any woman who can bust herself out of a psychiatric hospital can get her mate back easily." Chihiro gave a watery chuckle.

"Besides, if you were just a 'stupid insignificant human,' your dragon would not have chosen you. You owe it to the little dragonlet you're carrying to get him back."

"Dragonlet?" laughed Chihiro.

"It's better than calling it 'it.'" said Scott, the smile evident in his voice.

"All clear!" whinnied the Nygel.

"Come on," said Scott. "I've got enough in my pack to keep us dry. As soon as Linca gets here we can get a fire going. She says she has a gift with it; goes with her temperament I suppose."

The humans waded through the mud and scrambled onto the hill. Scott removed a tarpaulin sheet from his pack and stretched it taut between two trees, using bungee cords. He spread plastic sheeting beneath it and he and Chihiro sat beneath the tarpaulin. The drumming of the rain above her lulled Chihiro into an uneasy doze. The next thing she knew, she was being shaken gently awake.

"Chihiro?" whispered Scott. She opened her eyes. She was sleeping on his shoulder.

"Chihiro, your sisters are here."

Chihiro blinked owlishly. In the rain just outside the shelter, Rin and Linca stood. Rin had her arms folded and her full lips were pulled down at the corners in a disapproving frown. Linca was unsuccessfully covering a huge grin behind her hand. Chihiro knew what she must look like, lying up against Scott with her mud-encrusted bare legs and mud-stained cotton panties on full display.

"Grow up, you two," she croaked. "The mud stole my clothes." Suddenly a thought struck her.

"HAKU'S HAIR!" she gasped. She struggled to her knees.

"You stay still," said Rin, her expression now much more sympathetic. "I'll find it. You can't see in the dark." She unloaded her packs and traipsed away.

"But what if the fox spirits took it?" wailed Chihiro.

"That's unlikely," said Linca, unloading her pack and scraping together soaking wet twigs and leaves with her delicate, pale blue hands. "Horseface has eaten most of them, I think. He's run off into the bog to hunt the last of them." She muttered a spell and the twigs exploded with blue flame. "I don't know where he gets the energy from," she said quietly. "He's covered twice the distance we have today and I'm exhausted."

"Was that a compliment for him?" asked Scott.

"No," replied Linca. "Merely an observation."

The fire grew and expanded, giving off large amounts of heat.

"I demand appreciation," said Linca pompously. "Few spirits of my level can create a spirit fire." Scott and Chihiro looked at each other.

"What's a spirit fire?" they both asked. Linca tutted and tossed her head, making ribbons of soaking white hair stick to her face.

"It's a fire that only needs minimal fuel, produces a lot of heat and water cannot put out."

"That is impressive," said Scott. Linca grinned at him, the blue flames dancing in her white eyes. She busied herself with putting up another shelter, opposite Scott's and Chihiro's. When she was finished she shook the water from her hair and beckoned to Chihiro.

"Come in here with me, Chi. I'll get you dry and dressed." Chihiro shivered as she crawled out into the driving rain again and dashed under Linca's shelter. Linca rummaged in Chihiro's pack and produced a pair of pink bathhouse domestic slacks.

"You can roll them up above the knee to keep them out of the mud," said Linca with a small smile. She gave Chihiro some clean underwear too.

"Turn around, Scott," she called across the small camp. Scott obligingly did, facing the back of his shelter.

"You know it's so dark I can't see you anyway," he said mildly.

Linca laughed and helped Chihiro strip off her wet clothes. Soon she was dressed in a warm shirt and her bathhouse pants. Linca brushed out her matted hair for her and braided it back. Rin returned, even muddier than she had been previously.

"Let it not be said that I don't love you," she said grumpily. She pushed the lock of Haku's hair into Chihiro's hand and the small bottle of river water she had not even realised she had lost.

"Keep them in your underwear or something," instructed Rin. "They are not likely to get lost again that way."

"Thank you so much," said Chihiro in a small voice and stood to hug her sister.

"Get back under there," snapped Rin and pushed Chihiro back under the tarpaulin. "If you catch a cold you'll slow us up."

Crestfallen, Chihiro ducked under the tarpaulin.

"Don't take it personally," said Rin more gently. "You have to look after yourself."

Chihiro considered sticking her tongue out at her sister but her stomach took that moment to growl embarrassingly.

"Good point," said Rin. "What's for food?"

Scott threw a packet at her. Rin caught it and inspected its contents.

"What's this?" she asked. "It looks like shells."

"It's pasta," said Scott. "It's quite good, fills you up."

"Oh, it sounds rather exotic," said Rin slightly sarcastically. "Thank you, Mulvey-san."

"Actually, Rin," interrupted Linca, "that should be Mulvey-sama. Scott is a Lord, you know."

"Stop it Linca," growled Scott.

"You are?" asked Rin, clearly surprised. "You don't look like one." Scott burst out laughing. Rin's attention returned to the packet of pasta. She opened it and gingerly selected a shell. Before anyone could stop her she popped it into her mouth.

"Mmm, crunchy," she said thoughtfully. "But a bit dry." The entire camp exploded with laughter.

Snaffu returned to find a very sulky Rin stirring a pot of boiling pasta over a blue fire. The two humans and Linca were still giggling.

"No food for me," he announced. "I'm stuffed." He collapsed by the fire. Chihiro noted that is belly did indeed look quite distended.

"Glutton," scoffed Linca. Neither Scott nor the spirits seemed to be uncomfortable with the fact the Nygel had eaten the fox spirits. Chihiro felt a little sad, however. They had not hurt her; they had just behaved as it was in their nature to behave. But this was the spirit world and it could be cruel and even bloodthirsty at times. Just like her own world could be. It was just violence seemed far more acceptable here. It was a day to day fact of life. The weak preyed on the strong and that was just the way things were. They ate pasta with a little oil and salt on it. It was filling if not all that tasty. After their meal, the party discussed their situation.

"At this rate, it will take us weeks to get out of the mud," sighed Rin. She was sitting in Scott's shelter and was not that happy about it. She displayed her displeasure by sitting as far away from him as possible.

"Well, does anyone have any ideas on how we can go faster?" asked Scott. The nygel's ears twitched.

"I could carry two, but I would have to rest frequently."

"In which case, we would probably end up going the same speed," muttered Linca. She scratched her head and pulled a face. "If we had a high-level magic-user they could have whipped up a long-distance transportation spell and we would be talking to the nutty old gent who started all this nonsense by now."

"That is hardly helpful, Linca," said Chihiro flatly.

"We will just have to do the best we can," said Scott. "Time may be against us but it can't be helped."

There was a small cough and everyone's eyes turned towards the sound. Chihiro's hand fell to her pack. She could almost feel Haku's sword vibrate with the anticipation of being used. She saw Scott do the same; she knew he had his own blade. Rin was already holding two knives.

"Show yourself!" she demanded.

Something shuffled into the firelight. It was small; very small.

"A child?" whispered Rin.

Chihiro looked at the child; he was a chubby and adorable toddler who looked about two or three years of age. He had a shock of midnight black hair and wide, serious, violet eyes. He was dressed in what looked like fluffy blue pyjamas. It was still raining heavily but the child did not appear to be getting wet.

"Kisho?" said Chihiro uncertainly. The child beamed. He did not have all his teeth in yet, Chihiro noted.

"Auntie," he said with a gurgle.

Rin and Linca immediately bowed.

"Huh?" said Scott, eyeing Rin as if she had gone insane.

"Err, this is the child of the Lord and Lady, Scott," explained Chihiro. "You have already met the mother."

"Oh," said Scott, understanding. Violet eyes fixed on him.

"You have hair like Papa," said the child with approval. Scott seemed to be at a loss for what to say. He found his voice at last.

"I thought he was only a few months old?" he asked Chihiro. "He was born at your mating, wasn't he?"

The child shrugged and wobbled over to Chihiro. He clambered into her lap.

"He is a child of gods," whispered Linca, still facing the ground. "Show some respect!"

Kisho, however, seemed more interested in sucking his thumb and playing with Chihiro's Tac'Tal. The pendant did not react to the child's touch.

"Emm, Kisho," said Chihiro gently. "Why are you here?"

"To see you," said the child around his thumb.

"Does your mother know you are here?" asked Chihiro carefully, hugging the child to her.

"No," replied Kisho. And she does not need to."

"Okay," said Chihiro slowly. She jumped as the child's hand found its way under her shirt and rested on her stomach.

"What are you doing?" asked Chihiro as steadily as she could.

"Oh, poor thing," sighed Kisho. He looked up at Chihiro, his violet eyes sad. "She's worried about you."

"She?" said Chihiro weakly.

"She knows you're sad and she misses her Papa's voice." Before Chihiro could dissolve into tears, Linca sat up and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"At least we know what colour to paint the nursery now," she said with a small smile. Chihiro shook her head, water filling her eyes.

"Can't do any of that till we get Haku back," she whispered.

"I have a present for you," announced Kisho, now talking to Chihiro's stomach. "I know you get tired from riding."

"I do my best, my Lord," said the nygel. Kisho ignored him.

He closed his striking eyes and grunted with effort. A matt black lump of material appeared in his hands. He held it up for Chihiro's inspection. Rin and Linca gasped.

"Yubaba's flying cloak!" squeaked Linca. "She had that locked in a magically sealed safe; not even Haku could break it open!" Kisho shrugged and grinned.

"It will be easier for her if you fly, auntie. You have a spirit with you who can teach you the art." He pointed at Linca and the sprite bowed again. "Be careful how much you use it," warned the child. "Best if you share it with the other slow human. One day on the horsy, one day in the air. It will speed things up for you all and not tire your baby out."

Chihiro did not know what to say. She settled for simply hugging the child.

"My lord!" said Rin, still with her head bowed. "You are too good to us."

"Just don't tell Mama I was here," said the child. "There are rules; I'm bending them to help auntie Chihiro get uncle Haku back." There was a small pop and Chihiro's arms were empty.

"Well," said Linca. "I guess its flying lessons all round tomorrow."


	21. The flying lesson

Chihiro apprehensively ran the flying cloak through her fingers. It was like watered silk.

"I'm not sure I want to do this," she said for the third time.

"Oh, it's easy," cried Linca. "Don't worry about it, you'll love it; if this is done properly you'll end up with a true bird form. That idiot Yubaba was so tied to earthly things she could not let her form go and let her spirit soar." Linca frowned with disapproval. "Flying around with that head poking above the cloak must have ruined the aerodynamics; I'm surprised she had any lift at all," she said disdainfully.

"Probably used extra spells," muttered Rin. "Used to terrify me when I saw that black shape heading for the bathhouse. She was usually in a foul mood after she visited the counting-house or the traders and she took it out on the staff."

Chihiro smiled; Haku could be a little bit stressed when he came back from the traders too. Of course, all it took was a kiss and a few whispered promises in his ear and he rapidly got over his vexation.

"So Chihiro is going to turn into a bird?" asked Scott, who was rubbing down the nygel with handfuls of leaves.

"Eventually, yes," said Linca. "Which species do you think she will be?" asked the sprite, with a glint in her eye.

"Goose," said Rin with a chuckle.

"Good flyer," murmured Linca, taking the wind out of Rin's sails.

"How about a bird of prey?" asked Scott. "Like a kestrel."

"Manoeuvrable and can hover," said Linca thoughtfully. "But not so good over long distances."

"A swan," snorted the nygel.

"We will need water and a running start if she turns into one of those," laughed Linca. "But a strong flyer. I'm personally going to go with something smaller," she said, eyeing Chihiro up and down. "A small songbird or a pigeon."

"Pigeon?" said Chihiro indignantly. "Great, you think I'm going to turn into a sky rat."

"They are not that bad," said Linca defensively. "It's not their fault that humans bred them for racing and now they are totally dependant on humans for their survival."

Chihiro rolled her eyes; Linca loved birds of all descriptions. She even enjoyed looking after the bathhouse chickens, though she had no qualms about slaughtering and eating them either.

"So how do I do this?" asked Chihiro, flicking out the cloak.

"Wrap it around you and wait; it will feel a bit strange but it won't hurt."

Chihiro nodded and slipped the hooded cloak over her. The most extraordinary sensation filled her body. The world got a lot bigger and her watching companions grew to giant proportions. She tingled all over; her arms grew and her legs shortened. It was painless but it made her feel a little sick. Her gait changed; she had a lot more weight before her. Her eyes allowed her to see behind her as well as in front of her. She got dizzy and sat down, fluffing out her breast feathers indignantly.

Linca laughed. The sound was loud and set Chihiro's heart pounding. She wanted to fly away from the sound but she was unsure how. Linca bent towards her, but Chihiro stood and scampered between her legs. She was terrified. Part of her knew that Linca was her sister, the rest of her was acting on instinct; she had to run and hide from the scary things that might hurt her.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Rin in a concerned voice.

"She's just a little bird-brained, that's all," said Linca with a small smile. "She'll learn to deal with it. Stand still and let her calm down."

Everyone fell silent, making sure they made no sudden movements. Chihiro's heart began to beat less rapidly. There was a bush to her left; she could hide in it if they moved. She felt a little safer.

"Chihiro," said Linca in a very low whisper. "It's alright, Chi, the fear subsides. You take on the instincts when you change. That's why Kisho told you to change only every other day. If you fly too much you will permanently change into a bird."

Very slowly Linca crouched down, facing Chihiro.

"When you are ready, come over to me," she said in a whisper. It took Chihiro a good ten minutes before she plucked up the courage to hop towards Linca. At least she was steady on her clawed feet now. She hopped onto the spirit's outstretched hand. Linca slowly stood.

"There, my little dove," said Linca softly. "Not quite so scary now, is it?"

Chihiro tried to reply, but instead, she cooed. Her eyes widened; she could not speak.

"Wait for me to change, then I will be able to talk to you," Linca said to her. "And might I say, you are a beautiful example of a collar necked dove. A good all-rounder, doves; fast, manoeuvrable and can go long distances. You may out-fly me with practice."

"Err, how long is this going to take?" asked Rin, glancing at the sky. "It's already mid-morning."

"Not long," replied Linca. "She will know what to do once she gets up; she just needs an example to follow."

Linca held out her hand towards Rin. Chihiro gripped Linca's thumb tightly; the ground looked a long way down already.

"Hop onto Rin for a moment, Chi; use your wings to get a bit of lift."

Chihiro braced herself and jumped, flapping her wings furiously. She was almost too successful and nearly missed Rin's shoulder.

"Oww," Rin complained. "Your claws are sharp." Chihiro selected a hair and pulled at it with her neat little beak by way of an answer. There was a flash and a large snowy owl was perched on a root on the ground.

"Ahh, that's better," it hooted. "I sometimes feel like this is my true form."

Chihiro was relieved. She could understand Linca perfectly. Chihiro hopped off Rin's shoulders and fluttered to the ground. She landed lightly and cooed happily at her small achievement.

"Yes, very good," hooted Linca. "Now come here and I'll explain some of the basics." Chihiro hopped over and was dwarfed by the large white bird. She was not at all afraid now. She was herself, not the bird she had changed into.

"Don't worry," Linca squawked. "I'm not hungry." She winked one huge yellow eye.

Rin and Scott stared at the two birds baffled by the stream of hoots and coos that were coming from them.

"Are they... talking?" asked Scott.

"I assume so," sighed Rin. "Best leave them to it. Let's gather the packs. Can you carry a couple as well as this lump of a human, Snaffu?" The nygel whinnied an affirmative.

"I'll be slow but I can do it; two humans would be heavier," he said with a horsy grin and a swish of his tail.

Scott tied two of the smaller packs to the nygel's flanks like panniers. The water horse could hold them in place with the same magic he used to hold his human victims to his back when he dunked them. Rin strapped the two heavier packs to her back and Scott mounted the small horse. His feet nearly touched the ground, but the nygel was not a normal horse and he could carry the tall human easily. Scott wiggled on the horse's back.

"I still hurt from yesterday," he complained.

"It's your turn to fly tomorrow," said Rin with a grin. "Your rear can get a rest then." Her grin broadened at the unsure look on his face. "I wonder what kind of bird you will be?" she mused holding her head on one side.

"Probably a duck, knowing my luck," laughed Scott. Rin laughed with him.

"We are heading off," she announced to the birds at her feet. "When you two finally get into the air you can scout ahead for us; find the shortest way out of this swamp. Snaffu will be keeping pace with me so he does not tire himself out. Remember we need a good campsite before sunset."

Linca looked up and snapped her beak at the tall spirit woman. Rin took this as a goodbye. She broke into a trot and Snaffu matched her pace. They hopped lightly over the surface of the swamp, barely even splashing themselves.

Chihiro thought she understood most of what Linca had told her; the primary and secondary feathers provided lift and her alular feathers on the tips of her wings helped with direction.

"Let's have a try shall we?" said Linca with an excited hoot. "Remember, big jump and big downward flap to get the lift; your wingtips should almost touch the ground. Then small sharp flaps to gain height. Once you are up, the rest should come. The air will tell your wings how to move. You're not a chick; you don't have flight muscles to build up. They are all there. By the end of the day you will be an expert."

Without another word, Linca flapped her wings and gracefully took off. The breeze ruffled Chihiro's feathers. She cooed uncertainly and jumped. She put as much effort as she could into her first flap. She shot upwards; she was so surprised she nearly fell out of the air. But she recovered and snapped her wings. She fought against the uncooperative air currents and rose slowly.

"Use the air, Chi," hooted Linca. "Let it flow over your wings and make small adjustments."

Chihiro relaxed and discovered Linca was quite right; she glided a little and she did not plummet back to the ground as she expected. A thermal buffeted her upwards, she cooed, startled. Linca flew above her, cutting through the air and letting Chihiro fly in the more gentle air she left in her wake.

"You're flapping too much, glide more or you will exhaust yourself by midday," warned Linca.

Chihiro took the sprite's advice, within an hour of reasonably continuous flight she was attuned to every breeze that blew over her. Just like a skilled sailor would keep adjusting their sails to tack against the wind efficiently, Chihiro continually adjusted her wings to compensate for the ever-changing air. 

She flew differently from Linca. Linca was built for silent attacks and gliding over icy wastelands. Chihiro had a smaller, more streamlined body and she knew that with practice she could out-manoeuvre the larger bird. But she would not get ahead of herself, she was content to hold back and fly behind her sister.

They passed Rin, Scott and the nygel. Rin was running lightly over the marsh and the nygel was cantering to match her pace. Linca gave an obnoxious hoot. Scott and Rin waved and the nygel whinnied. Chihiro could almost see the edge of the mire. Linca decided it would be a good idea to circle around and guide those on foot, showing them the quickest way out of the mud.

Flying in short bursts was actually harder. Flapping a few hundred meters ahead of the pedestrians, finding a perch and waiting a few minutes for them to catch up, only to take off again was draining. At mid day, Rin and her party decided it was best to eat on the run.

Scott tied a nose bag over Snaffu's face. It was full of dried fish that Snaffu had thoughtfully brought along himself. Scott and Rin chewed on dried meat and some hard bread. Scott had the bright idea to crumble some bread up for Chihiro. She landed on his fingers while he rode the nygel and pecked at the crumbs on his palm; she was ravenous.

"Are we nearly out of here?" Scott asked her. Chihiro cooed and bobbed her head in an affirmative. "Good," he sighed. "Better find us a campsite as soon as we get to firm ground."

Chihiro dipped her head again. She took a sip of water from Scott's canteen and joined Linca in the sky again. The spirits did not really need to eat; eating gave them strength but it was not entirely necessary for them. Linca could comfortably wait till they made camp, as much as Rin tried to convince her to eat a little dried meat. 

The sprite turned her beak up at it. Owls hunted, she informed Chihiro; she wanted something warm and wriggling if she ate in this form. Rin scoffed at the owl, who was ignoring her but could not argue with Linca when she could not speak to her. Chihiro drew alongside the owl, matching her speed.

"No doubt I'll hear about this later," Linca sighed.

"Rin's just making sure you don't tire," pointed out Chihiro.

"I know that," hooted the owl. "But she should trust me to know my own body." She squawked as if laughing. "Besides owls have this habit of vomiting up the stuff they can't digest. I don't want everyone to see me pass a pellet; it's disgusting even for me!"

They covered three times the distance they had the previous day. When they arrived at a small copse of trees on the edge of the marsh they stopped for the night. The birds landed on the ground when Rin and the others arrived. Chihiro felt like she just wanted to find a good branch, tuck her head under her wing and roost.

"Change back," Linca told her firmly.

"How?" Chihiro asked.

"Just think about your human form and the cloak will release you," explained Linca.

Chihiro closed her eyes and pictured herself in her mind. She had long chestnut hair, unusual for a Japanese native. She had large brown eyes and her skin was also slightly lighter than the normal Asian tone. There was western blood in her mother's family and it seemed to be still showing itself a few generations later. Her face was rounded, her cheeks were full, she had average breasts; she was flat chested compared to Linca, though Haku had never complained. 

She had a slight curve to her stomach; it was not going to stay that way for long. Chihiro hoped fervently that as she was a small person that her daughter would not grow too large. She had dark, curly hair between her legs and well-toned thighs, the result of hours of Rin's combat training. Her calves were firm and her feet were ugly as far as she was concerned; calloused and rough, though she did have a high instep. Her arms were a little on the thin side, making her elbows look knobbly. Her hands were small but delicate and she had short, well-trimmed nails

"Are you going to open your eyes now?" asked Linca. Chihiro's eyes flew open. The sprite stood before her, back in her primary form, her white hair gleamed in the rays of the setting sun and her white pupil-less eyes danced with amusement.

Chihiro looked down at herself. She was back, and to her relief, clothed. She had pictured herself naked and only when she opened her eyes thought the cloak may return her to her human form nude. The flying cloak was in her hands. She carefully folded it up and laid it at her feet. She rolled her shoulders; they ached.

"Wow," she exclaimed at last. "That was amazing."

"Told you that you would like it," laughed Linca. Chihiro smiled.

"I'm convinced," said Scott behind her. "I want my turn tomorrow even if I do end up as a duck."

"I don't think you would be a duck Mulvey-Sama," said Rin almost overly sweetly, lowering her backpacks to the ground and whipping the mud splashes from her clothes.

"Oh no?" said Scott lightly, obviously expecting sarcasm to follow. Rin smiled up at him, pleased to prove him wrong.

"No," she replied. "I think you're going to be an eagle."

Scott frowned as if thinking he must have misunderstood Rin's meaning. He ran the sentence back in his head and could find no hidden meaning in her words at all. He raised an eyebrow; he thought he had possibly just been complemented by the prickly spirit.

"Well," he said quietly. "We will see if you are right tomorrow."


	22. Looking and Watching

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick bit of book news, Snowblind is now a physical book! Paperback copies are available only through Amazon at present but I have plans to get my books into bookstores next year, watch this space... thank you for the messages of support through my launch. I've read and replyed to every person.

As it turned out, Rin was quite close in her guess. The next day when Scott donned the flying cloak, he turned into a bird Chihiro had never seen before. It was reddish-brown in colour, with a lighter, speckled breast. The bird also had a wicked raptor bill, strong talons and fiery yellow eyes. It looked like a small eagle but it had a long forked tail. Linca clapped her hands.

"A red kite!" she enthused. "Very rare and a beautiful flyer!"

Rin stared. "I was right," she chuckled. "He would have to be a bird of prey." Scott screeched at her and ruffled his rust coloured wings.

"Enough of that," said Linca firmly. "Or I will have to teach you to preen as well as fly." She turned to Chihiro and Rin. "Off you go then. We will lead the way. There is a forest up ahead; we better watch out for some of the larger spirits that like the shady places."

"They won't bother us," said Rin confidently. "Nygels don't take kindly to being assaulted. If Chihiro wears her katana, the dragon magic in it will shout her status. What other human would have the right to wear such a sword? And if they are too stupid to know what that means..." A dagger jumped into Rin's hand from nowhere. She twirled it, catching the morning light on the shiny blade.

"Where did that come from?" asked Chihiro.

"Never you mind," said Rin with a knowing grin.

Chihiro extracted the sword from her pack and strapped it around her waist. It grumbled at her apparent lack of action; she should be slaying her enemies by now. It could also sense another magical sword nearby and was not that happy about strange old magic it was not familiar with being so near. It was a revelation for Chihiro; she had not known that the sword in Scott's pack was magical. She wondered where he had got it from. She mounted Snaffu and Rin jogged away.

"Don't you want to have a go at flying?" asked Chihiro when Snaffu caught up with the nimble spirit.

"No," replied Rin. "There is no way my feet are leaving the ground."

Chihiro laughed, she had felt the same when Haku had started to fly her places while still in his human-looking form. There was a joyful shriek and a red kite streaked over Rin's head, ruffling her hair.

"Show off," Rin called after the bird, but there was a small smile on her face. Chihiro was surprised; she had thought Rin would have disliked the cheerful, laid back young man, especially as he had fallen on top of her a few days ago. But Rin appeared to have become quite tolerant toward him.

Their camp the night before had been almost harmonious, though Rin still seemed uncomfortable about sleeping so close to Scott. Linca had offered to "spend the night with him," as she put it, but Rin had refused. Scott was very understanding about it all. He curled his large frame up under the far end of the tarpaulin with his back to the spirit woman, wishing her sweet dreams. Rin obviously appreciated the gentle treatment.

The trees closed over them. They were massive rainforest hardwood trees, dripping with lianas. It got warm under the leafy canopy, then hot. The humidity increased and Chihiro began to sweat. The spirit world was strange; where else would you come from a cold marsh and half a day later be in a tropical forest? Linca's white owl form was almost dazzling against the background of muted browns and greens as she glided through the trees. At a clearing, Chihiro looked up to see a tiny speck in the azure blue sky. Scott was obviously using his bird of prey vision to scout ahead much more effectively than she and Linca had managed the previous day. Chihiro felt her dowdy dove form had been a little outclassed. When sundown came, Scott and Linca returned. Scott was still enthused by the joys of flying.

"You can see everything up there! I can see a huge canyon just on the horizon. We should be there in tomorrow."

"So you like it?" asked Rin.

"Like it?" cried Scott. "If opposable thumbs were not so useful, I'd be a bird permanently."

"Oh," said Rin with a small secretive smile. "That would be a shame, you're bird-brained enough as it is." Scott laughed easily.

Tired as he was, Scott showed them how to convert the tarpaulins and plastic sheets into hammocks with little rainproof covers.

"Why hammocks?" asked Linca.

"It's a tropical forest, there are all sorts of creepy crawlies about at night. It's better if we don't sleep on the ground," explained Scott. "Unless spirits don't get insect bites?"

"We do, but not as many as you sweeter blooded humans," sighed the spirit mournfully.

Chihiro thought it was an excellent idea; she had been bitten in several places already. Scott rummaged in his pack and threw a bottle of insect repellent to her.

"You did prepare for everything," Chihiro muttered, spraying on the noxious smelling chemicals liberally over her exposed skin.

"That's why you chose me, wasn't it?" said Scott, his tone a little brittle.

"Not the only reason," said Chihiro, passing the bottle back to him. "I wanted another human with me in this. I love my sisters but they can be a bit too spirity at times." Scott chuckled, knowing what she meant.

Rin snatched the repellent bottle from him.

"And what exactly do you mean by "spirity"?" she queried in a less than pleased tone.

"Well..." Chihiro murmured. "You just don't consider certain things. You don't understand how we work."

"I do!" said Rin spraying herself and sneezing as she inhaled the fumes.

"Rin," said Chihiro firmly. "I had to tell you everything about humans, from periods to chocolate."

"Don't the two go together?" asked Scott, still chuckling, his blue eyes dancing with amusement. "Besides, I thought you wanted me here because I was a man."

"Huh?" said all three sisters in unison.

Scott put on his best regal expression and spoke in his best upper-class voice to attain maximum patronisation.

"All you helpless females needed a firm, guiding hand. You needed a strong man to do things for you so you don't end up breaking a nail."

"I'm not female!" protested Snaffu, feeling a little left out of the banter.

The females in question were all glaring at the young man, too tired to take his words in the way he had intended them.

"Looks like I'm sleeping with Snaffu tonight," said Scott easily, not taking offence at the murderous looks directed at him. Linca was the first to forgive him. She threw her arms around Chihiro and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sleeping with Chi, she's more squashy than the rest of you, and as she gets fatter she'll get even more squashy."

Chihiro glowered at her.

"I hope I get bad morning sickness and throw up all over you," she spat.

"Oh, I forgot about that," chortled Linca. "I'm so looking forward to holding your hair out of your face while you vomit your breakfast."

"Hopefully I'll have Haku back by then and you'll be spared that duty," said Chihiro tiredly.

She swung herself into her hammock and sighed. She blamed her hormones for her recent mood swings. That and the yawning gap the loss of her mate had made in her. It was getting harder to sleep restfully. She had been told there would be repercussions for binding herself so tightly to him. The loneliness was starting to get to her.

Linca looked at the Chihiro shaped lump in the hammock.

"Good job I did not joke about it being strong enough to hold us both," muttered the sprite under her breath.

"You should not joke at all," growled Rin. "You have no idea what it feels like to be ripped from your mate."

"And you do?" asked the sprite.

"Yes I do!" snapped Rin. "Don't ask me how but I do!"

"Stop arguing and go to bed," Chihiro's voice sighed from the hammock.

Rin spun on her heel and leapt gracefully into her hammock. Scott gave Linca a hard look. She poked her blue tongue out at him and flounced over to Chihiro.

She slipped into the hammock and the fabric adjusted and stretched around her small form. She snuggled up to the still irritated human and pillowed her head on her shoulder.

"You know you love me really," she murmured.

"Hush!" Chihiro whispered. She was listening to the conversation at the other hammock.

"Err, can you move over a little," Scott's voice rumbled in the twilight. There was a swish of fabric moving against fabric. "I won't be able to turn my back to you either, the tarpaulin will suffocate me," he added.

Rin tutted but did not say anything. The ropes sighed as the large human's weight pulled them taut. There was a shifting and scuffling. Chihiro could just imagine the pair trying to get comfortable without gaining an intimate knowledge of each other's anatomy. She bit her lip trying not to laugh. Linca was grinning gleefully.

"It's alright for you," she whispered. "You're well past the awkward stage with your dragon. You've forgotten how embarrassing it is to be shoved up close to a member of the opposite sex that you don't have carnal knowledge of."

"It never bothered you," yawned Chihiro.

"I'm without shame, that's why," retorted Linca. "But we both know how straight-laced Rin is."

"Then why doesn't she let someone else sleep with him?" sighed Chihiro, letting her eyes slide closed.

"Because she likes him," said Linca, with a mischievous lilt to her voice.

"You're imagining things," murmured Chihiro sleepily. She felt herself starting to drift; she hoped she would sleep well and not waken before dawn again.

As was now her nightly ritual, she took hold of the Tac' Tal at her throat and brought the pendant to her face. She touched the warm obsidian mirror to her lips.

"_Goodnight, Haku,"_ she thought. She hoped he would have a restful night too.

"Don't I get to give him a kiss?" asked Linca cheekily. Chihiro pulled the Tac' Tal round her neck and the sprite touched her light blue lips to the pendant.

"Goodnight, brother," she whispered seriously. "Rest well and keep your strength up."

Chihiro smiled at her sister. Despite appearances, she knew Linca missed Haku terribly, as did Rin. She drifted closer to sleep, looking forward to using the flying cloak in the morning. As smooth as riding Snaffu was, her undercarriage and thighs ached terribly from being on his back all day.

"_Suppose I better get used to pain down there,"_ she thought bitterly. _"I'm going to be pregnant for over a year."_

She rested her hand on her still smooth abdomen and smiled into the darkness.

"_No offence, little dragonlet, but you could have picked a better time." _

She slept soundly, for once.

***

Haku woke with a start. He blinked, and slowly the dimly lit cell came into focus. He was still a prisoner, but his circumstances had improved greatly. He was completely healed for one thing; Kenshin had done it himself a week ago. His hands were now free and he was shackled by a thick bracket around his waist. There was plenty of slack chain, so he could get up and move around, though he could not reach the door. It was frustrating; he was sure he could break it down, but he was still restrained with obsidian inlaid chains. Even if he broke the door down he could not get free, his power was still safely locked away by the spells in the obsidian.

He also had water. Haku had nearly clawed the glass bottle from the silent shadow spirit that offered it to him. He downed it thirstily, opening his parched throat and letting the life-giving water flow into him without even swallowing. He only ever had had one experience in his long life that came close the complete ecstasy of relieving his burning thirst. Such thoughts were not fit to have around a possibly telepathic spirit. Those moments were private, not for onlookers to see. He had run his tongue around the neck of the bottle, seeking more of the delicious wetness. The shadow spirit had taken the bottle off him. To his shame, Haku had whimpered like a child but he quickly turned the sound into a growl of warning.

The shadow spirit did not react at all. It took the bottle between its almost transparent hand like appendages and the bottle glowed. When the glow faded the bottle had been refilled with fresh clear water. The spirit handed the bottle back to the dragon who hastily downed it again. When a third bottle was offered Haku had slaked his thirst enough to be able to talk without his voice rasping.

"Why?" he asked the spirit. "Why are you treating me like this?"

"We have been reprimanded," the spirit sighed. Haku was genuinely surprised. He had not expected an answer. "Our master was not aware of the condition we kept you in. You are to eat and drink your fill every day."

Haku frowned to himself in the dim cell. Since then he had eaten fish every day, a neat trick in the middle of a desert, and drank as much water as he pleased. He guessed he was averaging about 15 bottles during the searing heat of the day. At night it was considerably cooler so he only drank one or two. Being dehydrated would not kill him, but he was a water spirit, he needed to have water. If he didn't it was very uncomfortable, like an itch he couldn't scratch that would slowly drive him mad over time. In the dry air, he needed to drink regularly. Clearly his kidnapper knew that and was providing for him. Haku was suspicious, however; he was much less of a threat while weak and hurt. Kenshin was keeping his strength up for a reason.

Haku's thoughts returned to the dream that had woken him up. It had been a nice dream... at first. He had been in the hot spring, water bubbling and steaming around him. The tension drained out of him. Every worry and concern that he had vanished. As if that was not good enough, his mate had slipped in beside him snuggling up to him with a sigh. She was very naked, he noted. The warm soft body pressed against him stirred his desire for her. Normally he could tell through the bond between them if she was in an accepting mood or not. It made their love life very amicable indeed; there was no guesswork involved. Of course, she was still female and still human. Often her voice would tell him one thing and he would know she was thinking another. He liked it when she was in one of those moods. It made coaxing her into bed all the more satisfying. However, he could feel nothing from his mate, there was no warm loving presence filling his mind, no stray thoughts to listen to. He realised he was dreaming. He was disappointed but he would enjoy the dream while it lasted.

He slipped an arm around her and lifted her onto his lap. She laughed, looking up at him coyly through her dark eyelashes. Haku groaned, he could not help it.

"I miss you so much," he whispered. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting." She giggled again and touched her lips lightly to his. He sighed, closed his eyes and kissed her back, but she pulled away long before he was finished with her. He growled in protest.

"Oh shut up and stop complaining, lizard," said a voice that was not his mate's.

Haku's eyes snapped open. His mate was no longer sitting on his lap; it was Linca. Haku stared. She was also very naked and her white eyes looked cross.

"What are you looking at, pervert?" she spat.

"What are you doing here?" he barked. "Get out of my dream!"

Linca crossed her arms over her generous breasts and gave him a scathing look.

"I'm not thrilled to be here either," she retorted. "This is your dream, you could at least clothe me!" Haku blinked at her. He must still have concussion if he was dreaming such strange things.

"It's the bond, Haku," she sighed, seeing he did not understand. "No matter what spell is keeping you imprisoned, the bond still remains. Chihiro would know if you died, just like you would know if she died. Also, she still wears the Tac' Tal. The combination is allowing you brief moments of contact with each other."

"I know that," he said carefully to the nude sprite, endeavouring to keep his eyes on her face. "But why are you here?"

"I'm sleeping next to her," shrugged the sprite. "I must have got sucked in somehow. Being a magical creature I have a bit longer with you. It's unfair, but there you go." She peered into his face. "Where are you?" she asked.

"A desert, that's all I know," he replied. "You have to take Chihiro home, Linca," he pleaded. "It's not safe for her to be roaming the spirit world looking for me."

"She is your mate," said Linca gently. "It is her place to avenge you."

"But she is human! She can't possibly help me," he hissed.

"Why?" Linca asked, cocking her head, sending damp, shimmering tresses snaking over her shoulders.

Haku gave up; he could see there was no reasoning with her. He leant back against the side of the pool and glared at her, waiting for her to wriggle off his lap. A small smile crept over her blue lips and he realised she had no intention of leaving yet.

"Sorry, this is too good an opportunity to miss," she said sounding very unapologetic.

She slipped into the water, fully submerging. It took Haku a moment to guess what she was looking at.

Realisation dawned on him and his temper flared. She had no right to be looking! The sprite really was too much at times. If he was not technically related to her he would have banished her from the bathhouse by now. He put his hand into the water and grabbed her by a handful of white hair, yanking her out of the water. Linca was laughing hysterically.

"I should call you big brother from now on!" she giggled. "Chihiro is a lucky girl!" Haku swore at her.

"Get out of my head!" he snapped.

"I'm going," she chuckled. "I think I'm waking up."

"Good," he snarled.

She stopped laughing and looked serious for a moment.

"We are going to see the old man of Arron," she announced. "He'll tell us the prophecy Chihiro is cursed with and we will come after you then."

Haku did not want them to come; he wanted to keep them all out of harm's way. He was a god and yet he was helpless; what chance did they have? But he could not stop them. His little one had lied to him once already; he did not want her to have to lie to him again.

"My captor is called Kenshin," he said stiffly. Linca frowned.

"I've never heard of him," she whispered.

"You're too young," said Haku simply.

"I'm 472 years old!" Linca cried, clearly insulted. She shook herself free of his grasp and leered at him.

"I know something you don't know, big brother," she taunted in a husky voice.

"I don't care," he growled.

"You will," she laughed. "Your river went mad about it. Just wait till you connect with it again."

Haku sighed. He missed his river almost as much as his mate. Even if he was free, the connection between them had been severed. He would have to have physical contact with it to bond with it again.

Without his mate and his river for a prolonged period, he would truly go insane. Spirits had been known to kill themselves after such losses. But he had hope; he did not think his mate could help him, but he would get himself free. No one was infallible; Kenshin and Yubaba would make a mistake at some point and then he could rip their throats out. Smiling at that happy thought, he looked back to the sprite, only to realise she had gone.

"I never did find out what got the river so excited," he thought gloomily.

As annoying as Linca was, he had been glad to see her, though he would have preferred more time with his mate. If Linca remembered her dream on waking he hoped she was tactful enough not to mention her state of undress. His little one could get quite possessive at times. Not that he wasn't himself; the mating season had been proof of that.

The door rattled and he looked up.

The familiar figure of Kenshin walked through the door. The tall spirit smiled at Haku but as always the smile did not touch the granite-hard eyes.

"You are looking better," said the spirit's low voice. "Much more like yourself."

Haku ignored him, he was not about to thank his captor for better treatment.

"Vocal communication marks us as higher spirits, Kohaku," said the black-haired spirit with a smirk. "We do not merely communicate with our own kind, we can speak to all spirits, high and low, even humans if we so choose."

Haku narrowed his eyes at the spirit. "Air spirits talk too much," he said flatly. Kenshin laughed and shrugged.

"Perhaps we do," he said, still smiling. "But water spirits have a tendency towards cutting themselves off from the wider spirit world."

He crouched down and looked over Haku from head to toe. Haku repressed a shudder, the spirit was not just looking with his eyes.

"I believe that before your little human came along you were much more the silent type." Kenshin shook his head, his black hair glowed slightly blue in the morning light arcing down from the small window, but did not shine. "Amazing the change one insignificant human has instigated in you," he said incredulously.

"If she was insignificant I would not be held here!" Haku snarled, wrinkling his nose up and bearing his teeth.

"Peace, dragon," said Kenshin, his face serious. "I have no wish to undo any of the healing I have performed in order to teach you manners."

Haku knew he meant every word and reigned in his temper. The only hope of escape he had was if he was in full health so that he could take advantage of an opportunity that may come his way.

Kenshin nodded with approval, making Haku want to tear his throat out. The spirit stood but Haku remained seated.

"I did not come here to taunt you, Kohaku. I am not Yubaba; I take no joy in others' misfortune." He rolled his shoulders and sighed. The dark circles under the spirit's eyes and his demeanour of exhaustion was suddenly apparent to Haku. He wondered what could be draining the powerful spirit. The grey eyes regarded him coolly.

"I came here to ask if you wished to see how your Chihiro was getting along..."

The spirit left the statement hanging. Haku found himself nodding vigorously before he could stop himself. Kenshin smirked, knowing he had Haku's undivided attention.

He gestured to the wall and the gold-work mirror appeared again. The silver swirling surface cleared and focused on a blue sky. It zoomed in on a small grey bird. Haku's eyes widened. It was his mate; he would know her in any form. The dove was being followed by a snowy owl. Haku wondered if Linca really had been in his dream or if she had just been a figment of his tired, lonely mind.

"Interesting," murmured Kenshin thoughtfully. "Yubaba thought her flying cloak was safely locked away." He rubbed his chin with a long-fingered pale hand. "This smacks of divine intervention."

Haku felt a growl rumble up from his throat.

"Yes," said Kenshin sympathetically. "They are using her for their own ends." He smiled at the mirror. "Good," he muttered. "That means they fear me."

"The old ones fear no one," hissed Haku.

The grey eyes turned on him and flashed with annoyance.

"They fear me," said Kenshin coldly. "And with good reason."

Haku frowned, his mind seized on the flicker of emotion he saw in those normally dead eyes. Kenshin hated the old ones. He must be challenging them in some way, and using a vast amount of his own power to do it. The grey eyes turned icy once more and the ancient anger was frozen. Kenshin turned back to the mirror. The birds were flying over a vast fissure in the land. It was like a large scar in the otherwise green, forested plain. A primaeval battle had ended by one force opening the ground under the feet of the other.

The canyon ran for well over a thousand kilometres and was over five thousand metres deep and a thousand metres wide. The sun did not reach the bottom even when directly overhead, thus the canyon was filled with blackness. It was said that there were shadow spirit cities in the blackness, protected from the sun. The sun would not harm a shadow spirit, but they were nocturnal by nature. The sun robbed them of their excellent vision and could dehydrate them.

Kenshin smiled as he watched the two birds circle above the night filled chasm.

"So, she goes to learn her fate," he muttered. "Very clever, little dove, but what will you do when you know the truth?"

"What are you talking about?" snapped Haku, not likening the softness in the spirit's voice when he spoke to Chihiro's image.

"Fate," replied the spirit. "Be still, dragon; I know what she will hear, but this will be of great interest to you." He regarded Haku coolly and raised a black eyebrow. "You wish to learn the prophecy, do you not?" he asked haughtily.

Haku ground his teeth and nodded, though it made his blood boil to do so.

"Good," said Kenshin. "You are not as half-witted as I feared."

Haku's eyes widened. It was quite possibly the first time a spirit outside of his close acquaintance dared insult him. He reached for his power to teach the infuriating spirit a lesson, but found himself grasping at nothingness. He could not even feel his power anymore; it was securely sealed from him. He swallowed and stamped on his rage. This was no time for his ego to get in the way. He concentrated on the mirror and watched the birds fly to figures waiting for them at the side of the canyon.

One he recognised as Rin and the other was the ridiculously fluffy nygel. Mounted on the nygel's back was the red-headed human he had caught a glimpse of the last time Kenshin had let him see Chihiro. He frowned at the mirror; the figure was almost familiar. Suddenly understanding hit him. He had seen that human before. That human had been the one who had delivered Chihiro to him, before she had promised to be his. He had gifted the human with an emerald to repay him for his kindness. It was only later that he discovered that the odd human had feelings for Chihiro.

He snarled angrily at the mirror. What was she doing picking him as a travelling companion? She was his; she had no right to associate herself with one who may still desire her. Not that he could blame the human, but that did little to ease his jealousy.

"Temper, temper, dragon!" laughed Kenshin. "What has enraged you so?" Kenshin's grey eyes followed Haku's glare.

"Oh I see!" he chuckled. "She travels with another male."

Haku tried to control himself but the animalistic part of him won over. A growl ripped through him when the small dove landed on the tall man's hand. The blue-eyed man spoke to the bird and ran a finger over the ruffled feathers on her back.

Haku roared and jumped to his feet.

Kenshin sighed and snapped his fingers. Haku's legs suddenly refused to support him and he sank to the ground. He opened his mouth to protest but only a sigh came out.

"You will remain like that until you are calm," said Kenshin crisply. "You are not thinking clearly and you dishonour your mate by assuming the worst when you see her near another male." Kenshin gave him a scathing look. "It's a wonder she wants you back at all if you trust her so little."

Haku blinked. It was very strange to be reprimanded by his captor for such a thing. Nevertheless, the air spirit's words rang true. Chihiro was on her way to claim him back; even the most subtle of seductions would have little chance of success. He did trust her, what he did not trust was other males. She was so beautiful and endearing, how could they not want her? He was not so much jealous of the red-headed man, he was jealous of the time he was spending with his mate.

His little one's life was so brief that even a few weeks of separation tore at Haku's heart. He should be the one stroking those feathers right now; he should be the one talking to her. A wave of hatred swept over him for his captor. Kenshin was robbing him of time with his mate. For that alone Haku wanted to kill him. His eyes turned back to the mirror. Kenshin touched the glass surface and suddenly there was sound.

"Now," said the spirit softly. "Let's see what your mate's fate is."


End file.
